Tesla refutes the report that he is the subject of a thorough criminal investigation

Tesla, on Friday, responded to a report that he was the subject of a growing US criminal investigation, claiming that she had not received any subpoenas from the Ministry. of Justice.

The electric car maker said it received a voluntary request for documents from the Ministry of Justice earlier this year regarding production guidelines for its mass-market model 3 sedans, and that the company reacted co-operatively.

However, he had "received no subpoenas, requests for testimony, or any other formal process, and the Ministry of Justice has not asked for any more documents for months."

Tesla's statement came after the Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the authorities were investigating whether the automaker had knowingly misled investors with its model 3 production targets.

The WSJ, citing people close to the case, said FBI agents had contacted former Tesla employees in recent weeks to ask them to testify in the criminal case. These employees also received subpoenas related to the investigation, the newspaper reported.

Repeated bottlenecks in production have hit Model 3 since its launch more than a year ago, subjecting Mr. Musk to intense pressure and forcing him to push back his six-month goals. .

The company finally reached its weekly production target at the end of June and has since been able to reach a quarterly target, although its production levels still represent only half of what Musk had originally promised to reach by the end of 2018.

Tesla claimed on Friday that it has been transparent about the difficulty of raising production of model 3.

"In the end, given the difficulties we did not foresee in this one-of-a-kind production ramp, it took us six months longer than expected to meet our forecast of 5,000 units per week" , did he declare.

"Tesla's philosophy has always been to set truthful goals – no goals we would surpass, nor unrealistic goals we could never achieve. Although Tesla is criticized when he is slow to reach a goal, one must not forget that Tesla has achieved many goals that have been questioned by most. We are extremely proud of the efforts of society as a whole to overcome this difficult roadblock and achieve volume production. "

Tesla shares were hit this year by production concerns and the fallout from founder Elon Musk, who claimed he had secured the necessary financing to privatize the company.

But the stock has returned to equilibrium after Musk last month settled fraud charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission over its "false and misleading" allegations of a possible takeover of Tesla.

A surprise return to profitability this week also contributed to the rise in the share price of Tesla. The stock is up 1.5% on Friday after yielding most of its morning gains as a result of the WSJ report. The advance brings the gains of the title from its lowest recent level of October 8 to more than 20% and leaves the stock up 4% since the beginning of the year.