German rental company would like to use 100 Tesla Model 3s, but was not able to put up with quality issues or repair times
It was huge news when German rental company Nextmove announced its intention to lease 100 Tesla Model 3 for its fleet, but as it turns out – the €5 million ($5.5 million) deal was canceled.
*The video above is available with English subtitles.
Initially, Nextmove received 15 Tesla Model 3 in Spring 2019, but according to the company, those cars were plagued with issues. Nextmove said that only one in four Model 3 was without defects, while some of the remaining 75% were “even not roadworthy”. Besides the defects, nextmove complains also complained about the lack of timely repairs.
“But the powerful wave Moeller expected has collapsed to a trickle. After weeks of back and forth over unfulfilled repair work and quality issues involving the initial 15 sedans that Tesla delivered — from scratched bumpers to moisture trapped behind the headlights — the order of the remaining 85 Model 3s was called off.”
The list of quality and finish issues include:
- paint defects
- faulty wiring
- scratches on the dashboard
- faulty wheels
- condensation in the headlights
In such circumstances the deal was canceled:
“The rental company said following a dispute over how to resolve the quality shortcomings, Tesla triggered a refund clause but Tesla disputes that it canceled the order.
Tesla said Nextmove chose not to take delivery of the cars.”
“Tesla said it was in the process of resolving the issues and had provided replacement vehicles.
“We believe the customer’s decision not to take delivery of its remaining Model 3 orders wasn’t entirely due to quality issues, but was largely influenced by their frustration with an unrelated dispute from earlier in the year,” Tesla said in a statement, without elaborating further.”
Nextmove uses more than 300 electric cars, including 38 Model S and a dozen Model X. Company owners Stefan Moeller remains a fan of the Model 3, but not a fan of Tesla as an organization.
Hopefully, we will not hear about similar issues too often as it might be the biggest threat to Tesla’s expansion.