- This is by far one of the largest claims by a Chinese automaker against a blogger, as the drag coefficient drama continues.
- An apology video by the blogger further angered Avatr.
Avatr Technology, the electric vehicle (EV) unit of Changan Automobile, has announced that it is suing an automotive blogger for a hefty claim, marking an escalation in the dispute over a drag coefficient drama.
In a statement posted on Weibo today, Avatr's legal department announced that it is formally suing the owner of the @苏黎世贝勒爷 account, demanding that he immediately cease his infringing behavior and pay compensation of RMB 10 million ($1.4 million) for economic and goodwill damages.
It's one of the largest amounts ever claimed by a Chinese car company against a blogger.
The blogger posted a video on May 2 claiming that the wind resistance coefficient of a domestic EV model was claimed to be record-breaking, but real-world measurements found it to be at the similiar level as that of a fuel car from 20 years ago.
The video showed the model to be the Avatr 12 sedan, although the blogger did not directly mention the car by name.
The blogger's tests showed that the Avatr 12's wind resistance at 120 kilometers per hour was 0.2818, much higher than the 0.21 that the Avatr s marketed.
Avatr's legal department responded on May 3, saying that the information posted by the blogger was "completely inaccurate".
As the drama unfolded, the test video was shared on the Elon Musk-owned X platform and retweeted by the Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO.
On May 6, Avatr said in a Weibo post that Musk had retweeted the inaccurate information and invited him to witness the Avatr 12's wind tunnel test.
On May 9, Avatr publicly carried out a wind tunnel test of the Avatr 12, which was streamed live on video.
The Avatr 12 has a drag coefficient of 0.2325 to 0.2972 at wind speeds of 120 kilometers per hour and as low as 0.2173 at wind speeds of 160 kilometers per hour.
In a statement yesterday, Avatr asked the blogger to remove his "false" statements about the Avatr 12 and publicly apologize.
Subsequently, the blogger posted a video apologizing to Avatr, but mentioning information that the EV maker believed to be untrue.
In the "so-called apology video," the blogger described the production car used in Avatr's live wind resistance test as a prototype, deliberately confusing public opinion, the EV maker said.
This further misleads the public about the test results and Avatr's products, and further infringes on the company's brand image, according to the statement.
($1 = RMB 7.1988)
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