- France has ordered Tesla to stop deceptively marketing its cars as fully autonomous.
- If the company doesn’t comply, they could face fines of over $58,000 per day.
- The company was also ordered to change a number of other business practices.
France’s General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control has come out swinging at Tesla and ordered the company to “cease its deceptive commercial practices.” This follows a lengthy investigation that kicked off in 2023 and identified “several failings and offenses prejudicial to consumers and contrary to the law.”
Among the most eye-catching offenses is “deceptive marketing practices regarding the fully autonomous driving capability of Tesla vehicles.” In France, the Model Y comes standard with Autopilot, while “Improved Autopilot” is a €3,800 ($4,413) option that adds additional capabilities. There’s also a €7,500 ($8,708) “fully autonomous driving capability,” which is essentially France’s version of full-self driving.
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Of course, full-self driving isn’t fully autonomous and this appears to be why regulators ruled against Tesla. However, it’s just one small part of the government’s complaint against the automaker.
Others include:
- Sales contracts without a date or time limit or place of delivery of the vehicle and not mentioning payment on credit.
- Payments required before the end of the withdrawal period from which the consumer benefits when financing his purchase with an assigned credit.
- Absence of receipt valid as receipt in the event of partial payment in cash.
- Deceptive marketing practices regarding the availability of certain options and vehicle trade-in offers.
- Failure to reimburse within the time limits for orders for which consumers have exercised their right of withdrawal.
- Lack of prior information on the delivery methods and in particular its location.
That’s a pretty long list of grievances and the French government ordered Tesla to comply with regulations within four months. They added that “given the particular seriousness” of misrepresenting fully autonomous driving capabilities, the company would face a €50,000 ($58,057) fine per day if they don’t comply.
H/T to Reuters
