Tesla (TSLA) among the least reliable in Consumer Reports annual survey

Consumer reports magazine on Tuesday released their annual reliability survey with Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and other electric vehicles ranking among the least reliable.

“Electric vehicles are new technology, and a lot of automakers don’t have a lot of history building electric powertrains,” said Jake Fisher prior to releasing survey results at a meeting of the Automotive Press Association. Fisher is the senior director of auto testing for Consumer Reports.

Hybrids ranked as the top automobile category, boosting Toyota Motor Corp. and other automakers that have embraced gasoline-electric vehicles.

“Today’s hybrids are just as quiet and just as quick and nice to drive as the normal versions,” Fisher said in an interview. “The reliability of electric vehicles is not great. In fact, the majority are actually below average.”

Tesla was ranked 19th out of the 24 brands. The EV leader continues to have issues with body hardware, steering/suspension, paint and trim, and climate system on its models, the report said. Despite Tesla’s ranking, it still represents an improvement from a year ago, when the brand ranked second-to-last.

The magazine's annual survey of new vehicle reliability predicts which cars will give owners fewer or more problems than their competitors, based on data collected. Its scorecard is influential among consumers and industry executives.

The top-ranked brand overall in the survey was Lexus, and seven of the ten best-scoring brands were Japanese and Korean.

Shares of TSLA are up 0.14% in pre-market trading on Wednesday.

By Michael Elkins | [email protected]

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