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Audi, Jag, Kia and Tesla top Strategic Vision 2014 Total Quality Index

A couple weeks ago, J.D. Power released its latest Initial Quality Study, which gave high marks to Porsche, Hyundai and General Motors, with the latter earning more individual IQS awards than any other manufacturer. Now, it's Strategic Vision's turn, and it's doling out its praise not to Porsche, but to Tesla, which wasn't even included in the JD Power IQS.
The Model S was named the best vehicle overall in total quality, while Porsche's corporate brother and endurance-racing rival, Audi, was named the best premium brand, alongside Jaguar. Strategic Vision cited the Q5 and the ancient Q7 for individual segment awards, as well as the A5, which was a mere point off the top of its segment. SV also handed out compliments for the Audi's interior work. The win for the German brand is a nice improvement over its IQS score, with which it landed above the industry average, but solidly mid-pack.
Jaguar was without a segment winner, although SV did say that the Indian-owned English brand had a number of vehicles very near the top of their segments. This is the second significant win for Jag in two weeks, after it finished second overall on the JD Power IQS a few weeks ago.

China Tesla driver goes crowd-funding route to get chargers installed

Tesla Motors has at least one Chinese businessman in its corner. Andrew Zong, CEO of heat-pump maker PHNIX, recently engaged in a bit of crowd-funding to establish a charging network for new owners of the Model S battery-electric sedan throughout at least part of the world's most populous nation. And it's good publicity, of course. Zong hatched a plan to buy 20 electric-vehicle chargers from Tesla after picking up his new sedan in Beijing and realizing he'd have a hard time recharging in on the 1,300-mile drive south to Guangzhou. Zong then went onto online sites such as WeChat and Weibo and solicited volunteers to install his chargers. And after more than 3,000 miles worth of driving (or about a dozen or so odd recharging sessions), Zong got his 20 chargers installed. You can read PHNIX's press release below. Zong's efforts are a far cry from those of fellow Chinese businessman Zhan Baosheng, who registered for the trademark on the Tesla name in the country in 2006. Zhan, who has long been scuffling with the California-based automaker, recently sued Tesla for trademark infringement and was seeking almost $4 million in damages. That would buy a lot of chargers. Crazy Charging Plans for Tesla GUANGZHOU, China, July 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- "When I picked up my Tesla in Beijing, I realized that it's impossible to drive it back to Guangzhou as there are hardly any places to recharge the batteries," Andrew Zong, the CEO of PHNIX and also one of the first Chinese Tesla owners, said this to reporters. As a result, Andrew Zong got a crazy plan that by utilizing the power of the Internet and folk strength, he could make the first charging facility network in China to solve the electric vehicles' charging problems. With this plan, Andrew Zong bought a batch of original chargers for Tesla and promised that he would donate all the chargers to new-energy-loving car owners. Next Andrew Zong posted on online social network platforms, like WeChat and Weibo, to recruit volunteers who were willing to provide installation sites and offer free charging service for Tesla motors. During the next three days, there were thousands of volunteers applying to install charging piles at their places. Taken everything into consideration, 20 of the volunteers were selected. During the following twenty days, Andrew Zong and his companions have self-driven his Tesla for 5,750 kilometers via sixteen cities, in which they have donated twenty charging piles.

Tesla wants court to dismiss Georgia dealer lawsuit

Like the fire that forced Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara to flee Atlanta in Gone With the Wind, the battle between Tesla Motors and Georgia's auto dealers is heating up. In late August, the Georgia Automobile Dealers Association (GADA), which represents about 500 dealerships, filed a petition to prevent Tesla from selling its electric vehicles in the state. Tesla is now requesting a Georgia judge to throw out the petition, the Atlanta Business Chronicle says. The issue, as with states such as Texas, New Jersey, Virginia and Arizona, is that dealers say Tesla violates state law by selling vehicles directly to consumers instead of through third-party dealerships not owned by the company. Tesla insists that the company is best suited to oversee all distribution channels because of the uniqueness of the product and plans to open stores in Atlanta's Buckhead area and Decatur next week. The judge won't hear the case until next month. For now, Tesla is allowed to sell as many as 150 vehicles a year in Georgia under a zero-emissions vehicles provision. There's precedent elsewhere for things to improve in states where Tesla and dealers clashed. In August, the company reached a compromise with the state of Pennsylvania that will allow Tesla to open five stores in that state. Of course, there is a precedent for things to go the other way, too.