Tesla Inc issued an apology on Tuesday night amid mounting criticism from Chinese media and customers over its handling of the incident in which a woman stormed its booth at the Shanghai Auto Show and claimed that the carmaker’s brakes do not work.

The apology, which was published on Tesla's Weibo account, said that the company will strive to improve its communication and service to customers.

"Tesla respects and firmly obeys all decisions of related departments, respects customers, obeys the law and rules, and will firmly and actively coordinate with related department for the investigation," read the notice.

"We have formed a task force to solve this matter, address the claims by our customers in line with the law, and achieve an outcome that pleases the customers."

The apology marks a U-turn from the US electric car manufacturer's previous stance - one of Tesla's vice presidents had commented that "the customer has contributed to most of the negative news of Tesla recently", and that the company will not compromise.

Videos of the woman wearing a T-shirt with the words "The brakes don't work" and climbing atop of one Tesla’s display vehicles during the Shanghai Auto Show went viral on Monday.