When Top Gears Tried it's Best to Stop Tesla and Elon Musk - General

Weird seeing May act it up in that clip too, I always thought higher of him than Clarkson and Hammond for some reason.

[QUOTE=MedicWine;52477981]Why isn't Elon Musk doing more about this?[/QUOTE] The best form of revenge is success, and Elon is a pretty confident person. Why bother attacking Top Gear when instead you can just prove that you are right through succesful products? Attacking Top Gear would result in negative press regardless of how right you are, especially back in the Roadster days when everyone knew about Top Gear, but Tesla was still young.

[QUOTE=jonu67;52477970]Yes, they even admitted to it, the script itself was written before even testing the car and Tesla has the in built recording technology to prove it, Top Gear turned the vehicle off themselves and then lied about it. Then they admitted to it in court, but got off scot free because they are "Entertainment" despite the fact many people, including myself previously took there opinions on cars entirely seriously. They lied their teeth off and put the car in a completely bad light, ultimately costing Tesla money and investors, how far do you have to go before the review is [B]completely inaccurate[/B]? Because I'd go as far as to say this was completely inaccurate given the problem itself wasn't real and was self-inflicted for comedic effect. :s:[/QUOTE] Sure, the script may have been written beforehand and may be able to prove the car didn't go into limp mode when they reviewed it but the limp mode scenario on a track after very hard usage is something that happened repeatedly to Tesla vehicles, especially at the time. That was what they were trying to convey through underhanded methods. They should have mentioned the reliability issues at the time rather than act it out, but again they are an entertainment show.

lot of people tends to forget that EC actually have issues with extreme stress on race track so while i get the scene was scripted , i would believe the part where it overheated unless someone would publish the data history log which would clearly indicate it didn't neither side did anyway i bet Tesla wasn't exactly happy about the way TG did it

Going to be the devil's advocate here, but in 2008, Tesla Roadsters were horribly unreliable. [URL="http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/news/a29378/elon-musk-admits-to-shareholders-that-the-tesla-roadster-was-a-disaster/"]"At the Roadster launch party in 2006, a few examples were on hand to give rides to potential customers. By the end of the night, "the cars were destroyed," Straubel said. Musk admitted that the early Roadster "was completely unsafe," it "broke down all the time," and it "didn't really work." "[/URL] But even on Top Gear they said the Roadster's price will drop and as they make more of them, they'll improve in reliability. Which they did.

[QUOTE=MedicWine;52477981]This baffles me, because the amount of evidence to prove they're losing investors and money because of this has go to be huge. And even if Tesla can take the hit, why let the reputation of the industry you're trying to form be tarnished (on repeat)? Why isn't Elon Musk doing more about this? [editline]17th July 2017[/editline] The only reason Top Gear did what they did was because they knew it would have an impact on the public opinion of electric cars. Not only is it common knowledge that car-twats will take TG as the word of god, but why the hell else wouldn't the segment be funny? How many scripted scenes are there of cars breaking down and the guys taking the piss out of the situation? Why wasn't there one here? Why do all the shots happen after the car is already out of juice?[/QUOTE] Winning libel/slander suits is always near impossible because you literally have to prove the defendant's actions were intended to be malicious. Short of procuring notes flat out saying "this is where we fuck 'em boys," someone can just say "it was for laughs m8" and dispel accusations. The burden of proof is on the accusers and without solid evidence there's not much of a case. [editline]17th July 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=joost1120;52478114]Going to be the devil's advocate here, but in 2008, Tesla Roadsters were horribly unreliable. [URL="http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/news/a29378/elon-musk-admits-to-shareholders-that-the-tesla-roadster-was-a-disaster/"]"At the Roadster launch party in 2006, a few examples were on hand to give rides to potential customers. By the end of the night, "the cars were destroyed," Straubel said. Musk admitted that the early Roadster "was completely unsafe," it "broke down all the time," and it "didn't really work." "[/URL] But even on Top Gear they said the Roadster's price will drop and as they make more of them, they'll improve in reliability. Which they did.[/QUOTE] As the episode progressed, TG attempted to discredit EV's in general by stating they're not even truly "green" considering the electricity they run on is likely supplied by coal and other dirty power generation methods. They have a history of bias against EV's. afaik every one they've had on the show has oh-so unexpectedly and apparently unavoidably run out of energy.

ahhh yes possibly hindering the future of cars that arent destroying the environment on pure scripted BS classic gags amirite x)

[QUOTE=Supacasey;52478117]] As the episode progressed, TG attempted to discredit EV's in general by stating they're not even truly "green" considering the electricity they run on is likely supplied by coal and other dirty power generation methods.[/QUOTE] Wasn't that the case in 2008 though? Solar power and renewable energy wasn't as much of a thing as it is now, was it?

[QUOTE=Araknid;52478246]Wasn't that the case in 2008 though? Solar power and renewable energy wasn't as much of a thing as it is now, was it?[/QUOTE] This has always been Clarkson's go-to argument, though. It's a jab he's regurgitated over and over through the years, and while it could very well be true and not a product of his bias, I'm not about to give the benefit of the doubt to a lunatic who calls climate change fiction

[QUOTE=Araknid;52478246]Wasn't that the case in 2008 though? Solar power and renewable energy wasn't as much of a thing as it is now, was it?[/QUOTE] Even in 2008 the amount of pollution per mile an electric car causes was still minuscule compared to a gasoline or diesel car.