Tesla’s Service Centers have lately been a source of concern, with the carmaker apparently resorting to deploying unskilled personnel to maintain vehicles in overcrowded shops. That might make what General Motors President Mark Reuss stated on Thursday sting even more.
“Since 2021, our dealers have taken repair orders on cars whose make or model was labelled as Tesla over 11,000 times,” Reuss said during a presentation to investors last week. “Many of their consumers come to our dealerships.”
GM said that it worked on 11,180 Teslas over that time period but did not specify what kind of repair was done. Many were most likely in for standard maintenance like tyre rotations, but any extra repair conducted on Teslas by GM service facilities is unknown. Components availability has been a persistent issue for even Tesla’s in-house service network, and third-party service facilities are unlikely to be able to get Tesla parts.
Wait times at Tesla Service Centers have been a recurrent concern for the carmaker, and CEO Elon Musk said in 2019 that improving parts availability and wait times was a “personal priority.” Despite this claimed emphasis, Tesla owners continue to complain about excessive appointment wait times on Tesla Owners Online and Tesla Motors Club.
Although it’s not uncommon for service centres to maintain or repair other manufacturers, Reuss’ statements are likely to have irritated Tesla bosses. Although it is unlikely to generate much money for GM, it is definitely a source of pride and another volley in the war for EV bucks.
