If all of this is true, it feels like Tesla China employs some people that really should not be part of Tesla. It's probably a nontrivial effort to keep everyone aligned in a company that spans the whole globe.
Could this be a cultural thing at the company or, at least, the part in China?
Remember, Tesla builds cars that you aren't allowed to have non-Tesla folks fix them and Tesla has turned off features in used cars because they didn't think it was bought at a high enough price (even when it was sold used with the features). This has happened in the US.
More likely you have a rose colored picture of what this corporation is about. I am not a Elon hater like many, I actually enjoy is Social media antics..
however Tesla as a company is terrible, from their apple like control over their "platform" to their amazon like labor practices, to their Authoritarian needs to control all aspects of their products...
No it sounds like Tesla China is right inline with Corporate Tesla
Highly doubt it, since he seems to be exactly the type of CEO who would do this and also he's not the type of CEO without whose approval such a thing could have happened.