General Motors, in a scrappy start-up throw-the-rule-book-out-the-window kinda move, 'sold' its first mass-produced electric car, the unlamented EV-1, strictly on the basis of a lease without purchase option. When it decided the leases were up it took them all back and crushed 'em.
As you might imagine, this created a lot of hate and discontent at the time. But somehow GM got through it and even remained high enough in government and consumer esteem to be rescued by the cosmic-sized bailout of the giant economic crash of 2008.
I realize this is all ancient history, about as interesting to the modern tech-forward software-centric inhabitant of these forums as a play by play with color commentary of the Cuban Missile Crisis (spoiler: there was no nuclear war).
So, what has it got to do with Tesla? I'll bet the big brains over there have heard, maybe even remember, the EV-1 quasi-fiasco, recognized that straight-up isn't good enough when dealing with customers and have as best they can wired around the damage before it happens.
My editorial comment is that when GM emerges from the framed story as a relative paragon of corporate honesty in customer relations, it's a fairly dark goddamed story.