Telsa Motors is suing Top Gear, claiming the popular British television program sullied its good name — and electric vehicles — by staging an unfavorable test of the Tesla Roadster.

Seriously.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday (.pdf) at the High Court in London, Tesla Motors accuses the BBC of libel and “malicious falsehood,” because Top Gear faked a scene in which one Roadster ran out of electricity and another experienced brake failure.

The spat started two years ago when Jeremy Clarkson and the lads got their hands on a pair of Roadsters. Clarkson raved about the car’s acceleration but ultimately declared the technology “doesn’t seem to work,” because the cars ran out of juice after 55 miles, needed 16 hours to recharge, and broke down.

Except they didn’t.

The BBC conceded the car didn’t run out of juice and didn’t need to be pushed home, as was shown in the episode. Tesla — which claims it found two scripts for the program written before the cars were driven by Top Gear — squawked but was happy to let bygones be bygones.

But no more.

The BBC continues to rebroadcast the episode — it was shown on BBC America as recently as January, and also is available on DVD and YouTube — without setting the record straight. That’s too much for Tesla, which continues fielding inquiries from potential customers and investors asking if it has resolved the problems reported by Top Gear.

Company spokesman Ricardo Reyes said Tesla has in recent months repeatedly asked the BBC in writing to “stop repeating the serious and damaging lies” but received no response. That left no recourse but to sue, he said.

“This is our last recourse,” Reyes said. “It’s not that we’re hurting. We’ve sold more than 1,500 Roadsters and our cars have done more than 10 million miles. The broader issue here is the impact on EVs.”

The lawsuit argues Clarkson’s claims are patently false. It also claims that Don Cochrane, Tesla’s director of British sales and marketing, was on the set and found a script, written before the car was driven, that ended with the words, “It’s just a shame that in the real world, it absolutely doesn’t work.” Later, Cochrane he saw another script that called for the Roadster, which has a range of about 245 miles, to be shown being pushed into a hangar.

Tesla wants BBC to stop airing the episode and apologize.

“We’d like them to admit that they lied, and they keep pushing these lies,” Reyes said. “This is not about money. We just want them to set the record straight.”

Don’t expect the BBC, which has until April 26 to file a response, to back down.

“We can confirm that we have received notification that Tesla have issued proceedings against the BBC,” the broadcaster said in a statement e-mailed to Bloomberg. “The BBC stands by the program and will be vigorously defending this claim.”

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com