“On the last day of 2021 we meet in Xinjiang” – that was how Tesla announced, last Friday, the opening of a showroom in Xinjiang, China. The decision, released on the Chinese Social Media platform Weibo, has been criticised after several international groups say more than 1 million Uyghur Muslims have been held in internment camps. In the last months, fashion retailers H&M and Intel had similar problems which affected their sales numbers on the region.
“The store integrates sales, after-sales, and delivery services, offering Xinjiang users one-stop service and Tesla owners’ journey in western China.” – said Tesla.
Elon Musk must close Tesla’s Xinjiang showroom.
Council on American-Islamic Relations (Official Twitter account)
According to Reuters, last July, Swedish fashion retailer H&M reported a 23% drop in local currency sales in China for its March-May quarter after it was hit by a consumer boycott in March for stating publicly that it did not source products from Xinjiang.
Last month, U.S. chipmaker Intel faced similar calls after telling its suppliers not to source products or labor from Xinjiang, prompting it to apologize for “the trouble caused to our respected Chinese customers, partners and the public”.
Until now, Tesla had made no comments on the decision.