MIIT urges Tesla to keep China-made cars consistent with its promise

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on March 10 summoned executives of Tesla (Shanghai) Co.,Ltd. for a face-to-face meeting and urged the company to keep the production of its China-built vehicles consistent with its promise.

In recent days, some buyers of the China-made Model 3 said the controllers in their cars run on HW2.5 (Hardware 2.5) chips, which are unpowered over the HW3.0 (Hardware) chips shown on the specification list, and lodged a complaint against Tesla through the “3.15” consumer right protection platform.

The discrepancy was discovered as users found out that the label on their Model 3s fail to match that of the order says-- the HW3 controller code is 1462554 while the HW2.5 is listed as 1483112.

(Photo source: Tesla China)

The EV manufacturer afterwards made explanation via its Sina Weibo account, citing the supply chain issue amid the coronavirus outbreak as the reason leading to the problem.

“Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory 3 resumed operation and production on Feb. 10,” Tesla China said in a statement, “with the recovery of the plant’s capacity and supply chain, we will replace the HW 2.5 chip with the HW3.0 for buyers of the made-in-China standard-range Model 3s free of charge. Users can make an appointment through Tesla's service center.”

Meanwhile, the company added that it has installed the HW3.0 for users buying Tesla's FSD (full self-driving) suite, and clarified that the driving experience and safety features are virtually the same to owners whose cars are fitted with HW2.5 if they don't purchase the FSD kit.

Tesla Inc. formally kicked off the large-scale delivery of its China-made Model 3 sedans on January 7 at its Shanghai plant. During the first month, a total of 2,605 consumers in China bought the Mandatory Liability Insurance for Traffic Accidents of Motor Vehicle (MLI) for the homegrown Model 3 cars, according to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, versus 958 persons that bought imported models.