Tesla's Love-Hate Relationship With the Media Makes No Sense

Electric-car maker Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has rather mixed feelings regarding the media. The company is all too happy to tout positive coverage and product reviews, only to turn around and chastise anything remotely negative. Much like the president dismisses critical stories as "fake news," Tesla often calls bad press "misleading."

Consider the episode last month, when Tesla attacked Consumer Reports for predicting that the forthcoming Model 3 would have "average reliability," which in itself is not a bad prediction. Tesla fired back. "Consumer Reports has not yet driven a Model 3, let alone do they know anything substantial about how the Model 3 was designed and engineered," a Tesla spokeswoman told numerous outlets. "Time and time again, our own data shows that Consumer Reports' automotive reporting is consistently inaccurate and misleading to consumers." Presumably, Consumer Reports' prior, more positive assessments of Tesla products are not misleading.

Consumer Reports expects Model 3 to have "average reliability." Image source: Tesla.

Source: Fool.com