Tesla Sues A Used Car Firm for Infringement

According to the Tianyancha App, a commercial querying platform, Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. added a case filing information on August 26. The defendant was the Wuhou Branch of Tesla Used Car (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., and the case cause was an intellectual property infringement dispute. Although the defendant is very similar to a used car operating company owned by Tesla in terms of the company name, the actual controllers of these enterprises are all natural persons and have no connection with Tesla’s company in China.

The Wuhou Branch of Tesla Used Car (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., was established in June 2021 and is located in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. It is an enterprise mainly engaged in the wholesale industry and a branch of Tesla Used Car (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd.

Established in May 2021, Tesla Used Car (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd. is located in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, and it is an enterprise mainly engaged in the retail industry. The registered capital of the enterprise is 10 million yuan ($1.45 million), which is jointly held by two individuals. The company’s business scope includes the sales, distribution, appraisal and evaluation of used cars, motor vehicle charging sales, used car trading market operation, distributed AC charging pile sales and more.

Both of the above-mentioned companies have been listed in the business exception list because they cannot be contacted through the registered residence or business place.

Tesla, however, uses a direct sales model in the Chinese market. Both new cars and used car are delivered through an official delivery center, and there are no 4S stores, franchise stores and used car stores.

With the development of the new energy vehicle market, the battery energy density is improved, and the infrastructure such as charging piles, has also improved. The value retention rate of new energy vehicles has been significantly improved as the vehicles have become much more mainstream than before.

Tesla is one of the car companies that launched the official used car service earlier. Used vehicles that have passed multiple tests will be launched on the certified used car interface of the company’s official website after a strict screening procedure and any necessary extra preparations.

SEE ALSO: NIO Begins Trials Operations of Used Car Trading Service

The report jointly released by the China Automobile Dealers Association and Jingzhengu.com, an online used car evaluation platform owned by Yiche, showed that the preservation rate of new energy vehicles was stable on August 1. In the list of the value retention rate of 3-year-old new energy vehicles, Tesla’s Model X ranks third with a value retention rate of 72.6%.