South Korea fines Elon Musk-led Tesla $2.2 million for misleading electric range claims

South Korea's antitrust regulator said on Tuesday it has decided to fine Tesla Inc 2.85 billion won ($2.23 million) for false advertising related to the driving range of its electric vehicles (EVs). The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said the U.S. EV maker exaggerated the driving range of its cars on a single charge as well as the cost-effectiveness.

Earlier, Tesla announced that it sold a record 1.3 million cars in 2018. However, the figure fell short of CEO Elon Musk's goal of increasing the company's sales by 50 percent almost every year. The number of vehicles supplied in 2022 broke the previous record of 936,000 in 2021, but it fell short of the 1.4 million required to meet the company's goal of 50 percent growth.

Sales increased by 40 percent year over year, and production increased by 47% to 1.37 million. The shortage occurred in spite of a significant year-end sales drive that offered unusual US discounts of USD 7,500 on the company's best-selling Models Y and 3. 

Tesla Inc., which is based in Austin, Texas, also had to deal with rising cases of the novel coronavirus in China, which cut into production at its Shanghai factory. With the extra US push, Tesla delivered more than 405,000 vehicles worldwide in the fourth quarter. But that missed Wall Street projections. Analysts polled by data provider FactSet expected 427,000 deliveries from October through December and 1.33 million for the entire year.

With Reuters inputs