Photo/Zhang Xiaoqing (NBD)

Mar. 3 (NBD) -- Reports emerged on Monday that owners of the Tesla Model 3 in China were complaining over downgraded configuration in the cars.

The locally-produced models should have been equipped with the HW3.0 chip for autonomous driving, just as the accessory list indicates. But instead, the cars get a HW2.5 chip, according to the buyers.  

The downgraded configuration led to rising discontent among those buyers, and some thus lodged complaints through Tesla's customer service center and the national platform for consumer dispute resolution.

In response, Tesla China on Tuesday explained that the gigafactory in Shanghai resumed production on February 10 and some Model 3 Standard Range Plus cars are equipped with the HW2.5 chip due to supply chain issues. But with the production capacity and supply chain of the Shanghai gigafactory returning to normal, Tesla would replace the HW2.5 chip with HW3.0 for those car owners for free as planned, the company said in the statement. 

At the same time, the company underscored that cars with the HW2.5 chip and those with the HW3.0 actually have no difference in driving experience and safety if without the optional full self-driving (FSD) package. For cars coming with the FSD package, the HW3.0 has already been installed. 

According to Tesla's previous announcement, the HW3.0 chip designed by the EV startup in-house offers 21 times the computing performance of the HW2.5 chip but comes with lower costs. More importantly, the HW3.0 self-driving chip is essential to deliver advanced driver assistance features like recognizing and responding to traffic lights and enabling autonomous driving on city streets.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn