Tesla Sues BBC's Top Gear For Libel

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday March 30, 2011 @02:16PM from the release-the-stig dept.

thecarchik writes "About two years ago BBC's Top Gear aired a test drive of the then relatively new Tesla Roadster. In the particular episode, Tesla Roadsters are depicted as suffering several critical 'breakdowns' during track driving. Host Jeremy Clarkson concludes the episode by saying that in the real world the Roadster 'doesn't seem to work.' Tesla claims that the breakdowns were staged, making most of Top Gear's remarks about the Roadster untrue. Tesla also states that it can prove Top Gear's tests were falsified due to the recordings of its cars' onboard data-loggers. What's Tesla asking for in the lawsuit? Tesla simply wants Top Gear to stop rebroadcasting the particular episode and to correct the record."

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Re:Some people don't understand entertainment by md65536 · 2011-03-30 19:38 · Score: 1, Redundant

Realistically, they did not need to simulate this, because they could have actually driven it until it ran out of charge. Of course, it's not surprising that they wouldn't do that, since it's a huge waste of time and the end result is a foregone conclusion. It seems to me that Tesla is really just whining over a technicality, since it's true the car will run out of charge, and that's what they showed.
Then why don't they show other cars "pretending" to run out of gas and having to be pushed, since it's true that other cars will do that? That's also a foregone conclusion. It would be stupid to simulate and show each car running out of gas. So why simulate and show it for one car, when it never happened?