Elon Musk’s Tesla electric vehicle company is recalling more than 1.6 million cars in China, the country’s market regulator said Friday.

The announcement marks another blow for the US firm days after it was surpassed in EV sales by China’s BYD.

The recall – sparked by the discovery of problems with assisted driving functions and door-locking systems – will be conducted through remote over-the-air (OTA) updates to the cars’ software, meaning owners likely won’t have to visit service centres.

Tesla Model S, X, 3 and Y electric vehicles exported to China are affected.

China is a vital component in Tesla’s global layout, both as a large consumer market and the host of a major manufacturing plant in Shanghai.

Elon Musk’s Tesla electric vehicle company is recalling more than 1.6 million units in China, the country’s market regulator said Friday.

‘Starting from now, a total of 1,610,105 imported Model S, Model X, and Model 3, and domestic Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles with production dates between August 26, 2014 and December 20, 2023 will be recalled,’ the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said in an online statement.

‘For vehicles within the scope of this recall, when the automatic assisted steering function is turned on, the driver may misuse the level two combined assisted driving function, increasing the risk of vehicle collision and posing a safety hazard,’ it added.

The recall also includes 7,538 imported Tesla models made between October 26, 2022 and November 16, 2023, which were found to have ‘a problem with the door unlock logic controls’.

In 2022, the firm recalled nearly 128,000 cars in China due to a rear motor inverter defect.

And last month, Tesla initiated a recall of over two million vehicles in the United States and Canada due to risks associated with the autopilot software.

The recall followed a two-year investigation by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that found the system was defective.

It looked at a series of crashes that happened while the Autopilot partially automated driving system was in use. Some were deadly.

The latest recall in China comes just days after local competitor BYD surpassed Tesla to become the world’s leading deliverer of electric vehicles, according to fourth-quarter sales data.

Tesla’s Shanghai production facility – its first ‘gigafactory’ to be built abroad – delivered 947,000 vehicles in 2023, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua reported earlier this week.

China, the world’s biggest polluter, has heavily encouraged sales of electric and hybrid vehicles through subsidies.

It is aiming to have a majority of cars powered with clean energy by 2035.

The announcement marks another blow for the US firm days after it was surpassed in EV sales by China’s BYD. Pictured: Elon Musk is seen in a Tesla car in Beijing, May 2023

Tesla Model S, X, 3 and Y electric vehicles exported to China are affected by the recall

During a trip to China last spring, Tesla boss Elon Musk praised the country’s ‘vitality and promise’. He said that he ‘was willing to continue deepening mutually beneficial cooperation’, according to a readout provided by Beijing.

The recall also comes as Tesla is facing problems in the Nordic region, where a labour dispute between Tesla and Swedish trade union IF Metall has drawn in a host of unions all urging the automaker to sign a collective bargaining agreement.

About 130 workers affiliated with IF Metall began a strike on Oct. 27, sparking sympathy strikes – a solidarity tactic by unaffected workers – from dockworkers, cleaners and car dealerships.

Sympathy strikes are generally legal in the Nordic countries, in a stark contrast to the US where such actions are largely prohibited.