4 Teslas set ablaze in Germany, as protests against Musk’s company surge – National

Four Tesla vehicles were set on fire in Germany on Friday, possibly the latest in an ongoing string of protests and vandalism around the globe directed at the car company since its CEO, Elon Musk, became a key figure in President Donald Trump‘s administration.

German police said four vehicles were set ablaze in the Plänterwald and Steglitz neighbourhoods of Berlin in the early morning hours of Friday, adding that political motives could not be ruled out.

The first fire was reported just before 2 a.m. local time, and three other fires were alerted shortly after. German police say that while no one was injured, all four vehicles were damaged beyond use and nearby vehicles were also damaged.

Recent months have seen a slew of targeted acts against Tesla, ever since Musk was put in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) by Trump shortly after he took office. Since then, the cost-cutting body has fired tens of thousands of government employees, with more set to follow.

On Thursday, gunshots were fired at a Tesla dealership in Oregon for the second time in a week, causing extensive damage to cars and showroom windows, The Associated Press reports. A similar shooting happened a week before, on March 6, at the same location.

Last weekend, hundreds of protesters gathered at a New York City Tesla showroom to express their frustration about Musk’s high-level involvement with the U.S. government.

Footage captured during protests at a Manhattan dealership shows police removing a number of demonstrators from inside the premises, where glass doors had been shattered.

Meanwhile, people gathered outside the facility could be heard chanting, “We need clean air, not another billionaire.”

In March alone, arsonists started fires at multiple Tesla facilities, in the U.S. and overseas.

The Independent reports that 12 Tesla vehicles were set on fire outside a dealership in Toulouse, France, on March 5, destroying eight and severely damaging four. Authorities have since opened a criminal investigation.

The same day, seven Tesla charging stations at a mall in Littleton, Mass., about 60 kilometres outside of Boston, were burned, causing heavy damage and sending up plumes of thick smoke.

Protesters in a Seattle suburb also targeted a car dealership last weekend, spray-painting swastikas and profanity directed at Musk. In a separate incident in Seattle over the same weekend, four Cybertrucks were destroyed in a fire at a Tesla storage lot, although authorities did not confirm whether the fire was intentionally set.

In January, following a post-inaugural speech where Musk made multiple Nazi salute-like motions, U.K.- and Germany-based activist groups projected a still image of the billionaire tech mogul mid-gesture alongside the words “Heil Tesla” onto the outside of the company’s Gigafactory in Berlin.

Trending Now

• 

  Have capital gains to report? CRA says don’t file tax returns just yet

• 

  Canadian woman detained by ICE being used as ‘example,’ immigration experts warn

The projection was accompanied by a social media post outlining Musk’s ties to several extreme right activists and politicians, including Germany’s AfD, a political party known for using Nazi imagery to push racist rhetoric and anti-democratic messaging.

Trump, meanwhile, shopped for a new Tesla on the White House driveway on Tuesday, selecting a shiny red sedan to show his support for Musk’s company following the blowback because of Musk’s work to advance the president’s political agenda and downsize the federal government.

People protesting against Tesla should be labelled domestic terrorists, Trump said on Tuesday during the stunt, adding that protestors were “harming a great American company,” and anyone using violence against the electric carmaker would “go through hell.”

On his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump blamed Tesla’s share price falls on “radical left lunatics”, who he said were trying to “illegally and collusively boycott” the firm.

It was the latest — and most unusual — example of how Trump has demonstrated loyalty to Musk, who spent heavily on his comeback campaign last year and has been a key figure in his second administration. Tesla’s stock price increased nearly four per cent on Tuesday after dropping almost 48 per cent since Trump took office in January.

&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.