> Before these experts gave us the lemon laundering perspective, though, the most likely explanation for the goodwill repairs was an article written by Montana Skeptic, a famous Tesla short-seller. He claims that labeling warranty repairs as "goodwill" is a way Tesla found to cheat its financial results.

> This would happen because warranty costs are included in financial results as "Cost of Revenue," a number that affects gross profit and net income, according to that article. Instead of naming them as such, Tesla would say they are goodwill repairs, so these expenses would appear as "Operating Expenses," which get diluted in the company's results for as long as the car is under warranty.

> If a company labels a warranty repair as goodwill, it may claim in court that it was not due to a defect, but rather to the way the clients used their cars. In short, it could not be framed as something the automaker had to fix, according to lemon laws.