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Chinese Survey Puts Tesla Model 3's Build Quality Below Two Local BEV Models

Tesla's build quality has always been the subject of many discussions and, since people's expectations are quite high these days (particularly from premium-priced products), those discussions tend to focus on the bad stuff. And to be fair, Tesla provided plenty to focus on.
Tesla Model 3 29 photos
Photo: Tesla
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The early issues with the Model Y were often quite comical, ranging from the usual pain blemishes to wonky panel gaps and all the way to tailgates that refused to close without scraping paint off some body parts due to severe misalignment. However, the problems weren't exclusive to the Y as the Model 3 had a fair share of criticism (rear bumper falling off, glass roof flying off, other stuff doing other something offs) as well as the king of panel gaps itself, the Model X.

Well, despite all that, Tesla continues to rank highly in the US in every owner satisfaction survey, which suggests one (or both) of two things: either these are isolated cases - hard to believe since even those who say they are happy with their cars have a list of things that are also wrong with them), or the issues are so minor next to the excitement brought by the EV that they just choose to ignore them.

Well, people seem to be less lenient toward Tesla's quality slips in China where the Model 3, for example, ranks third for quality in the midsize BEV segment according to the JD Power 2021 China New Energy Vehicle Initial Quality Study, as reported by the South China Morning Post. The two models above it are the BYD Co Han BEV and the Xpeng P7.

The results put Tesla's products in the "below average quality" among BEV makers in China, behind three local manufacturers. The study was conducted on 3,976 vehicle owners from 53 cities in mainland China who had bought their EVs between September 2020 and March 2021. The results mark a drop for Tesla compared to last year's findings when the Model 3 was second in its class, behind only Nio's ES7 sedan.

What makes these results even more surprising is that the China-built Model 3s were thought to have a superior build quality to those assembled in Freemont, especially since they are also sold in European markets where the buyers' tolerance for defects tends toward zero.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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