4 Tesla vehicles were set on fire in Germany on Friday, possibly the most recent in an ongoing string of protests and vandalism across the globe directed on the automobile company since its CEO, Elon Musk, became a key figure in President Donald Trump‘s administration.
German police said 4 vehicles were set ablaze within the Plänterwald and Steglitz neighbourhoods of Berlin within the early morning hours of Friday, adding that political motives couldn’t be ruled out.
A burnt-out Tesla automobile stands within the Steglitz district of Berlin, Friday, March 14, 2025, as 4 Teslas are suspected to have been set on fire in Berlin.
Christophe Gateau / dpa via AP
The primary fire was reported just before 2 a.m. local time, and three other fires were alerted shortly after. German police say that while nobody was injured, all 4 vehicles were damaged beyond use and nearby vehicles were also damaged.
A burnt-out Tesla automobile stands within the Steglitz district of Berlin, Friday, March 14, 2025, as 4 Teslas are suspected to have been set on fire in Berlin.
Christophe Gateau / dpa via AP
Recent months have seen a slew of targeted acts against Tesla, ever since Musk was put in control of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) by Trump shortly after he took office. Since then, the cost-cutting body has fired tens of hundreds of presidency employees, with more set to follow.
On Thursday, gunshots were fired at a Tesla dealership in Oregon for the second time in per week, causing extensive damage to cars and showroom windows, The Associated Press reports. An analogous shooting happened per week before, on March 6, at the identical location.
Last weekend, tons of of protesters gathered at a Latest York City Tesla showroom to specific their frustration about Musk’s high-level involvement with the U.S. government.
Footage captured during protests at a Manhattan dealership shows police removing quite a lot of demonstrators from contained in the premises, where glass doors had been shattered.
Meanwhile, people gathered outside the power may very well be heard chanting, “We want clean air, not one other billionaire.”
Protesters are arrested as they gather outside of a Manhattan Tesla dealership to exhibit against Tesla CEO Elon Musk on March 8, 2025, in Latest York City.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
In March alone, arsonists began fires at multiple Tesla facilities, within the U.S. and overseas.
Get every day National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
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 4. Authorities have since opened a criminal investigation.
The identical 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 automobile dealership last weekend, spray-painting swastikas and profanity directed at Musk. In a separate incident in Seattle over the identical weekend, 4 Cybertrucks were destroyed in a fireplace at a Tesla storage lot, although authorities didn’t confirm whether the hearth was intentionally set.
ATF investigators and a member of the Seattle Fire Department inspect burned Tesla Cybertrucks at a Tesla lot in Seattle, Monday, March 10, 2025.
Lindsey Wasson / The Associated Press
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 surface of the corporate’s Gigafactory in Berlin.
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.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gestures as he speaks in the course of the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025.
Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images
Trump, meanwhile, shopped for a brand new Tesla on the White House driveway on Tuesday, choosing a shiny red sedan to indicate his support for Musk’s company following the blowback due to Musk’s work to advance the president’s political agenda and downsize the federal government.
People protesting against Tesla ought to be labelled domestic terrorists, Trump said on Tuesday in the course of the stunt, adding that protestors were “harming an excellent American company,” and anyone using violence against the electrical carmaker would “undergo hell.”
On his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump blamed Tesla’s share price falls on “radical left lunatics”, who he said were attempting to “illegally and collusively boycott” the firm.
President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speak to reporters near a red Model S Tesla vehicle on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in Washington.
Pool / The Canadian Press via AP
It was the most recent — and most unusual — example of how Trump has demonstrated loyalty to Musk, who spent heavily on his comeback campaign last yr and has been a key figure in his second administration. Tesla’s stock price increased nearly 4 per cent on Tuesday after dropping almost 48 per cent since Trump took office in January.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
