Several Tesla owners in Shanghai also said they felt misled by Tesla sales staff who told them they would face higher prices in the new year

Rival Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD and the budget-EV joint venture of General Motors in China both outsold the US carmaker

The move has fuelled talk among colleagues he is being groomed for a bigger role in Tesla, at a time when chief executive Elon Musk has been distracted by Twitter

It has not been an established practice for the plant to shut down for a year-end holiday, which will cut planned production by a third

The US automaker plans to start selling its EVs in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy via online channels

The US electric vehicle maker surpassed Toyota's profit despite the Japanese maker selling seven times more cars

Tesla recently outlined plans to shift its Chinese stores to lower-cost suburban areas which also offer repairs

Elon Musk, its chief executive, has demanded the company ramp up battery production, especially of its so-called 4680, denoting the diameter (46mm) and height (80mm)

Tesla’s second-quarter net profit fell 32% to $2.26 billion compared with the previous quarter. Total revenue fell to $16.93 billion from $18.76 billion in the previous quarter

The departure of Karpathy, who provided no reason for leaving, comes at a critical time as Tesla chief executive Elon Musk races to achieve full self-driving capability

The launch comes after Hyundai announced plans to build EV plants both at home and the US, where the Ioniq 5 and Kia's EV 6 SUV together became the second-best selling EVs

The suit is likely to be one of the most closely followed business battles of all time, pitching the colourful executive against the western commentariat's favourite arena