SEATTLE (AP) — Attacks on properties bearing the logo of the electric car company owned by Elon Musk are proliferating inside and outside the United States. While no injuries have been reported, Tesla dealerships, vehicle parking lots, charging stations, and privately owned cars have been targeted in these attacks.
These attacks, especially against Cybertrucks, are carried out with bullets and Molotov cocktails aimed at Tesla dealerships.
Why have the attacks against Tesla increased?
There has been a clear increase since President Donald Trump took office and empowered Musk to oversee a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that is cutting public spending. Experts on domestic extremism say it is still impossible to know whether this series of incidents will become a long-term pattern.
During Trump’s first term, his properties in New York City, Washington, and other locations became a natural place for protests. In the early days of his second term, Tesla is taking on that role.
“Tesla is an easy target,” said Randy Blazak, a sociologist who studies political violence. “They are driving on our streets. They have dealerships in our neighborhoods.”
Musk’s critics have organized dozens of peaceful demonstrations at Tesla dealerships and factories in North America and Europe. Some Tesla owners, including a United States senator who had a dispute with Musk, have pledged to sell their vehicles.
But the attacks keep the police busy.
Prosecutors in Colorado charged a woman last month in connection with a series of attacks on Tesla dealerships, including molotov cocktails thrown at vehicles and the words “Nazi cars” painted on a building.
Federal agents in South Carolina arrested a man last week who, they say, set fire to Tesla charging stations near Charleston. An agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wrote in an affidavit that authorities found texts critical of the government and DOGE in his bedroom and wallet.
Several of the most prominent incidents have been reported in left-leaning cities on the Northwest Pacific coast, such as Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, where anti-Trump and anti-Musk sentiment is high.
A man from Oregon is facing charges after allegedly throwing several Molotov cocktails at a Tesla store in Salem, and then returning another day to shoot at the windows. In the suburb of Tigard, near Portland, more than a dozen bullets were fired at a Tesla dealership last week, causing damage to vehicles and windows. This was the second time in a week that the store was targeted in attacks.
Four Cybertrucks were set on fire in a Tesla parking lot in Seattle earlier this month. On Friday, witnesses reported that a man poured gasoline on an unoccupied Tesla Model S and started a fire on a Seattle street.
In Las Vegas, several Tesla vehicles were set on fire in the early hours of Tuesday outside a Tesla service center, where the word “resist” was also painted in red on the main doors of the building. Authorities said that at least one person threw molotov cocktails - rudimentary incendiary devices filled with gasoline or another flammable liquid - and fired shots at the vehicles.
“Was this terrorism? Was it something else? It certainly has some of the characteristics we might think of, such as writing on the wall, a possible political intention, an act of violence,” said Spencer Evans, the special agent in charge of the FBI office in Las Vegas, at a press conference. “None of these factors go unnoticed by us.”
Now Tesla is the target of the left
Tesla was once a favorite of the left. The company, which thrived with the help of a $465 million federal loan during the Obama administration, popularized electric vehicles and demonstrated, despite their initial reputation, that they did not have to be small, outdated, underpowered, and limited in range.
However, more recently Musk has allied himself with the right. He bought the social network Twitter, renamed it X, and removed restrictions that had angered conservatives. It is estimated that he spent 250 million dollars to boost Trump’s campaign in 2024, becoming his biggest benefactor.
Musk continues to lead Tesla —as well as X and the rocket manufacturer SpaceX— while serving as an advisor to Trump.
Tesla’s stocks doubled in value in the weeks following Trump’s election, but since then they have lost all of those gains.
Trump gave a boost to the company when he turned access to the White House into an electric vehicle display. The president promoted the vehicles and said he would buy an $80,000 Model S, setting aside his previous harsh criticisms of electric vehicles.
What has Elon Musk said about the attacks against Tesla?
Tesla did not respond to a request for comments. Musk briefly addressed the vandalism on Monday during an appearance on Senator Ted Cruz’s podcast, saying that “at least part of this is organized and funded” by “left-wing organizations in the United States, funded by left-wing billionaires, basically.”
“This level of violence is madness and deeply wrong,” Musk wrote on Tuesday in X, while sharing a video of several Tesla models engulfed in flames in Las Vegas. “Tesla only manufactures electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks.”
The progressive group Indivisible, which published a guide for supporters to organize protests titled “Musk or us” across the country, stated in a press release that all of their guidance is publicly available and “explicitly encourages peaceful protest and condemns any act of violence or vandalism.”
Some Tesla owners have resorted to humorous bumper stickers to distance themselves from the new stigma of their vehicles and perhaps deter potential vandals. They say things like “I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy” or “I just wanted an electric car. Sorry, guys”.
The prices of used Cybertrucks, Tesla’s most distinctive product, have fallen by almost 8% since Trump took office, according to CarGurus, which adds listings of second-hand vehicles. The overall market remained stable during this period.
The White House has backed Musk, the most prominent member of the government and a key donor to committees that promote Trump’s political interests. The President of the United States has said that the vandalism of Tesla is equivalent to “domestic terrorism,” and has threatened retaliation, warning that those who attack the company “will go through hell.”