There were rumors that it was a test drive, but Tesla has denied it.
A Tesla vehicle in Liyang, Jiangsu province, lost control while driving at noon on December 24 and crashed into a river after destroying a guardrail on a bridge, the Hubei Daily’s Jimu News reported today.
The people on the car were taken to an ambulance, and the local public security and traffic control departments are currently investigating the accident, according to the report.
The report did not mention a specific vehicle type, and videos circulating in WeChat groups show the vehicle was a black Tesla vehicle.
The videos show the vehicle making a left turn into the far left lane, but then suddenly accelerating and crossing three lanes in a row to the right, crashing through a guardrail and then falling into the river.
There were rumors that the accident occurred while a potential buyer was on a test drive and had a Tesla employee in the car.
However, Tencent Auto cited Tesla’s response that the vehicle doesn’t belong to the local Tesla store, but is owned by the owner, and that there was no Tesla staff in the car.
In addition, according to Qnews, local traffic police staff said that the people in the car were rescued and the follow-up situation is still under investigation.
The report cited local Tesla staff as saying that the vehicle’s license plate did not belong to Liyang, and that the vehicle had signs of modification and was not a local test drive.
According to The Beijing News, people at the scene said the driver and passenger of the car had a conflict at that time.
The local police department in Liyang said in an announcement that the driver was a 31-year-old man and the passenger was his 32-year-old wife. The man has died and his wife is still in resuscitation.
Jimu News later reported that the driver’s wife had also died in the early morning hours of December 25.
