Tesla CEO Elon Musk must be getting tired of fighting bad reviews of his cars.  In 2011Tesla sued the BBC’s ‘Top Gear’ over a segment where two of their roadsters allegedly broke down on the show’s test track.  Musk defended his company once again this month on Bloomberg television.  He claims a misleading New York Times review of the Tesla Model S cost Tesla $100million. 

For the story a Model S was to be driven from Washington D.C. to Boston, stopping as needed to recharge at Tesla’s charge stations.  The S ran out of juice and had to be carted off on a flatbed truck like a pile of used-Duracells.

Musk argued the journalist driving the S was at fault by deviating from a pre-planned route and driving at higher speeds than he was told to.  According to Musk the negative article caused Tesla car-orders to be cancelled and company stock to fall. By his estimation the negative press cost Tesla $100million.

Although this is definitely bad news for Tesla, Forbes and other news outlets covering Musk’s Bloomberg interview are skeptical the Times story could possibly have inflicted such a large loss.  

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