- Top Gear broke its silence on Saturday after being sued on March 29 by Tesla Motors for libel and malicious falsehood in the wake of a negative 2008 review of the Tesla Roadster, saying "there's nothing devious going on."
- Andy Wilman, the executive producer of Top Gear, wrote a lengthy defense of the popular British Broadcasting Company car show, taking issue with the automaker's claims that a 2008 test-drive of the Tesla Roadster was rigged and that the negative review had been scripted in advance.
- "The truth is, Top Gear had already driven the car prior to filming, to enable us to form a view on it in advance," Wilman explained.
LONDON — Top Gear broke its silence on Saturday after being sued on March 29 by Tesla Motors for libel and malicious falsehood in the wake of a negative 2008 review of the Tesla Roadster, saying "there's nothing devious going on."
"Just so you understand there's nothing devious going on, you need to know how this filming business works," wrote Andy Wilman, the executive producer of Top Gear, in a lengthy defense of the popular British Broadcasting Company (BBC) car show that was posted Saturday on the Top Gear Web site.
Wilman took issue with Tesla's claims at the heart of its lawsuit that a 2008 test-drive of the Tesla Roadster was rigged and that the negative review had been scripted in advance.
"It's alleged by Tesla that on the day of filming one of their employees caught sight of a script that had been written, before the car had even been driven, already containing the verdict that in the 'real world' the Tesla doesn't work," Wilman said. "This, they say, proves our guilt, because we'd condemned the car in advance. The truth is, Top Gear had already driven the car prior to filming, to enable us to form a view on it in advance."
The Top Gear response is noteworthy, given that the policy of the BBC in a legal case is to acknowledge receipt of the other party's claim, "say no more" and leave the case to "brainy people wearing wigs," Wilman wrote. But he said that Tesla's media blitzkrieg against Top Gear prompted him to write in its defense.
Tesla has carved out space on its corporate Web site to post an anti-Top Gear screed, as well as a stamped copy of the lawsuit filed in London's High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division. Top Gear's Wilman also claims that Tesla is actively seeking interviews with other media outlets to discredit the TV show.
"Normally, we would follow the pre-legal etiquette of keeping schtum (sic) until we get our day in court, but since the other side are being quite noisy with their views on how we conduct ourselves, I would just like to point out one or two things to Top Gear viewers," wrote Wilman.
He addressed Tesla's claims that Top Gear reviewers were lying when they said the brakes on the Roadster were broken. "They now say that all that had happened was that the fuse to the vacuum pump had failed, which meant that the brake just had to be pushed down much harder than usual," wrote Wilman. "Well — to my mind, if the brakes are broken, then they're broken, and if this happened to your car, you'd take it to the garage to get it fixed. Odd it seems so trivial to Tesla now, because on the day of filming they insisted on repairing the fuse before we could carry on driving the car."
Tesla had yet to respond to Wilman's claims as of Monday morning. But a blog posting last week by Ricardo Reyes, the vice president of communications for Tesla Motors, contends that the December 2008 episode critiquing the Tesla Roadster "contained lies and misinformation about the Roadster's performance, behaviour (sic) and reliability."
Top Gear now says it is going to "turn off comments on this one."
"I've said my bit, and now we'll hopefully shut up and prepare for our day in court," Wilman wrote.
Inside Line says: Top Gear comes roaring back at Tesla as the war of words ramps up in and out of court. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
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patrickw says:
02:11 AM, 04/06/2011
To me, the core issue is whether Top Gear "simulated" the Roadster running out of juice and then showed the video as if it had actually happened. Interestingly, in the U.S., an advertiser would be criminally liable for such a misrepresentation (under the Truth in Advertising Act), but "news" organizations are somehow exempt from reporting the truth (Akre & Wilson vs. WTVT-Fox; 14 FEB 2003; Florida Second District Court of Appeals).
blueprint1 says:
10:04 AM, 04/05/2011
Tesla confirms what we thought: built by nerds, for nerds.
mdale007 says:
05:55 AM, 04/05/2011
This is just a publicity stunt to draw attention to Tesla and Top Gear in the media. Tesla desperately needs to sell its electric cars and is in bed with Top Gear to draw attention to its product.
Tesla is up against the Nissan Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt. Don't forget Tesla sued Fisker Automotive, changed their top management, had development issues with the roadsters transmission, and prices the Tesla Roadster @ a cool $98,000.00.
Elon Musk is supposedly bankrupt and going through a nasty divorce. Elon is now engaged to a British actress and the ex Justine is challenging the post nuptial agreement.
I for one would not touch a Tesla given this circus environment.
dmpete says:
02:40 AM, 04/05/2011
PikachuRacer do you watch the show?? TG hurls every car that hits their track around at top speeds, rain or shine.... Tesla came out and said that their pure electric was revoloutionary in the fact that it could keep up so to speak w/ all the gas powered sports cars out there and still be (green)... Why shouldn't TG give it a proper thrashing. Tesla is just pissed that their test car broke during the test, This wasn't the 1st car that got a bad review from TG. They are doing what thier are paid to do. With them (Tesla) leashing out at TG just sounds ridiculas, and a pr stunt.
notabigdeal says:
08:10 PM, 04/04/2011
My guess is Tesla is out of cash. Needs money somehow.
Even if Tesla is right, this lawsuit will go on forever and Tesla will go bankrupt.
End of story. Thanks for playing.
PS: stop trying to make dumb publicity and make better cars. too many scandals, sueing people, and crap from this company.
stovt001 says:
08:05 PM, 04/04/2011
So the episode of Top Gear in question will be on BBC America this Wednesday. I guess that shows what the BBC thinks of this action. It will be DVRd and kept.
stovt001 says:
07:40 PM, 04/04/2011
So was Tesla under the impression that what you see filmed are their impressions on the spot? Of course they drive the cars before filming and then write a script around that and film dramatic recreations if necessary.
Receiving an exaggerated criticism from Top Gear is like being characterized on South Park or the Simpsons. It is almost a compliment, indicating you're important enough to warrant it, and fighting back will only make it worse for you.
dghstlstrdp says:
07:33 PM, 04/04/2011
@PikachuRacer:
I support the BBC on this one. Tesla's totally covering up the simple fact: that since no pure electric car has ever properly worked in the real world, let alone an electric sports car, that they haven't revolutionized the industry by finally making it work. It's a no-brainer that a sports car, or even just a sporty car, is supposed to be capable of being driven hard, and its drivability in wet conditions is important if its going to really work in the real world. If those two factors drastically reduce the car's battery-life, then its obvious that there's something wrong and that it just doesn't work. It deserved the bad review.
Moving on to other issues, the brakes "didn't break", they "malfunctioned", sounds the same to me.
Tesla and those caught up in their hype bandwagon will always point out that the car is "revolutionary" even though it doesn't match the reliability and drivability of a real car; that reviews like that of TG are unfair to the "new kid on the block". But all this clearly ignores the good point that TG makes: if they want electric cars to be the future, they have to match, if not surpass, the practicality of what we have now. It's absolutely reasonable to be harsh against a car that really wont work as well as good ol'internal combustion because if they claim it to be the future of motoring, it should be an improvement, at the very least.
On the more enthusiast side of things, it may be quite a torquey little Elise-based roadster, but fact of the matter is, and TG pointed this out correctly and factually, its much much heavier than an Elise because of all the batteries and that just spoils the handling. There's no way TG could give such a car a good review even if it came close to working in the real world simply because it doesn't really do what its marketing has claimed it can do: beat Ferrari's, Porsches, etc.
TG is a show mainly about performance cars, so its an absolute DUH that they have the right to criticize such a hyped up car when they actually saw that it was overhyped and can't really compete w/ the refinement of the traditional sports cars.
PikachuRacer says:
06:32 PM, 04/04/2011
I am sure that the reason that the Tesla Roadster energy usage did not work as expected on Top Gear is because of two reasons:
1) Is because the energy usage and reliability is based on driving at commuter speeds, not being hurled around at maximum speed. Clarkson was driving too aggressively and mashing the pedal to the floor, Electric Car Batteries will deplete faster and things would eventually go wrong when driven at such conditions.
2) It was wet when it was tested, as Electric Cars are less efficient in the rain or wet surfaces. For example, if you drive an Battery-Powered R/C car designed to run for 2 hours in the rain or drive it through a puddle, it runs out of power in less than an hour. (Note that this doesn't include R/C Hovercrafts or boats, as they are designed for use in wet areas).
I'm not trying to go on either side. If Pure-Electric Cars were to be able to be driven as hard as Gasoline cars without running out of batteries too fast, they would be easier to sell and people would love to own cars like the Tesla Roadster. If Top Gear did not drive the car on a wet track and so aggressively, the Tesla Roadster would never of had the brakes go bad or deplete the batteries too soon.
Here is my remedy. Top Gear should focus on all vehicle types except for Electric Vehicles (or if they continue to review Electric Vehicles, they drive them less aggressively) and that Tesla should improve the way they provide the information about the cars. This way, things like this would never happen between them again.
greedyamerican says:
05:58 PM, 04/04/2011
Poor Tesla....just forget the sue, make a better car, and get Top Gears to review it again. Sueing Top Gears will not help your sales!