A Tesla Model 3 displayed at the Guangzhou Autoshow on November 22 Photo: VCG

Tesla China responded to the rumor that "jiucai" or leek, a garlic taste vegetable is a taboo in the company culture on Wednesday.

Tesla's China Vice President Tao Lin responded on Wednesday that their canteen do sell leek following online rumors that the company prohibited its employees from speaking out the word leek and its canteen from selling leek contained dishes, according to a post on Sina Science and Technology.

Tao claimed that "we do have dumplings filled with leek in our canteen," and commented that "the stigmatization to Tesla has hit a new high."

Tao's response came after a tipster who identified himself as an employee of Tesla claimed that the word "jiucai" or leek is a taboo in the company after the word was used by Chinese netizens to insinuate the price cuts of Tesla cars on Chinese market.

The tipster said whoever mentioned the word leek in the company will be fined 10 yuan and that the vegetable is banned from the menu of the canteen of its giga factory in Shanghai on the requirement of Zhu Xiaotong, Tesla's global vice-president and head of Tesla China.

The word "jiucai" is Chinese internet buzzword. In nature, a new batch of leeks will grow where an old batch is cut. Many old Tesla consumers in China referred themselves as leek that was ruthlessly cut by Tesla following its frequent price reduction this year.

Since 2020, the frequent price reduction of China-made Model 3 has caused extensive queries among those who have already placed orders at a higher price.

In May Tesla said it has cut the starting price for China-made Model 3 sedans by 10 percent to qualify for subsidies for electronic vehicles. This marks the second time this year that the automaker has reduced the price.

The rumor on the metaphor of leek has raised heated discussion among Chinese netizens on China's twitter-like social media Weibo.

"I think such rule could be tyrannical. What gives company the right to ban its employee from eating leek?" commented Chinese internet user named as xiongmaoxiaoguaishou.

"It does feel like the style of Elon Musk though," commented an internet user named as dongdong.