The protests, organised under the banner Tesla Takedown, were held at Tesla showrooms including Manchester, Glasgow, Belfast, Bristol and London, and aim to hit the firm’s share price.
The movement is a backlash against Musk’s work as head of the US’s new Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, which has instigated mass layoffs of civil servants, slashed US foreign aid, cut support for veterans and the team investigating Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children – though it later backtracked on both of these plans.
People protest against Tesla and Elon Musk outside of a Tesla dealership in California (Photo: : Laure Andrillon/ Reuters)
The tech billionaire has also faced strong criticism for his close relationship to Donald Trump, to whom he donated a quarter of a billion dollars and has been advising during his second term in the White House.
The president has also used his second term to crackdown on both legal and illegal migration, which the White House has called an “invasion”.
By mid March, Tesla’s stock had dropped 36 per cent, but was still up by 54 per cent overall over the past 12 months.
Earlier this year, Trump examined several vehicles which had been parked on the lawn of the White House and pledged to buy one the following morning.
Tesla arson ‘treated as domestic terrorism’
Shots were fired at a Tesla dealership in Oregon and there was a suspected arson attack on a dealership in France, while charging stations have been set alight in Boston.
Tesla dealerships in Australia and New Zealand have also been hit by vandalism, and sales across the two countries were down 35 per cent compared with the same time last year, according to data from Australia’s Electric Vehicle Council.
Trump has said that violence against Tesla dealerships would be treated as “domestic terrorism” and that perpetrators would “go through hell”.
The FBI this week launched a taskforce focused on the Tesla attacks.
Will the protests hurt brand Tesla?
Jonathan A.J. Wilson, Professor of Brand Strategy and Culture at Regent’s University London, said that the reputational damage to Tesla from its association with the White House was more likely to stick because consumers think deeply before investing in a long-term product like a car.
“The challenge is that a car is something that says a lot about a person, especially about the environment and what you stand for. It’s a status symbol,” he said.
“There are going to be loads of people that [think]… every time I drive my kids to school, people are going to think that I’m a Maga supporter.”
While Tesla is currently in a “s***storm”, Wilson said the brand would be able to “weather the storm” if Musk has enough money and appetite to do so.
President Donald Trump, accompanied by White House Senior Advisor, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, speaks next to a Tesla Model S on the South Lawn of the White House on 11 March.(Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)Oliver Foster, chief executive of Pagefield public relations consultancy said that Musk had taken a gamble in aligning his green car brand so closely with Trump – who has previously called electric vehicles a “hoax” – and that it was “not paying off.”
Foster said the extent to which Tesla suffered long term reputational or financial damage from the current protest movement would depend on the direction they took.
“If people fear continuing to own a Tesla, and therefore to buy a Tesla, then it’s going to be quite a quick impact on the business performance.”
John Canavan, the lead analyst at economic advisory firm Oxford Economics, said the company’s relationship with Trump was a “double-edged sword.”
“It does give Elon Musk the ear of the President, [but] it t turns off a lot of potential car buyers. So it’s really a mixed bag,” he said.
“I do think that the recent price action has had a lot to do with the broader overall direction of the market.”
The move, aimed at protecting American manufacturers, is expected to cause widespread disruption to the industry and raise costs for consumers.
“They are the latest in a string of measures that alienate longstanding partners, raise prices and erode economic confidence among businesses and consumers. With more tariffs on the horizon, the administration is inviting deeper economic pain – especially for those least able to bear it,” he said.
A Tesla Cybertruck sits in traffic in Washington DC the day before Donald Trump was inaugurated President (Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty)
Grace Zwemmer, Associate Economist at Oxford Economics, said: “With Canada and Mexico responsible for more than half of the US’s motor vehicle imports and exports, tariffs could cause significant disruptions in an industry that is still trying to recover amid high interest rates and affordability issues.
Trump argues the tariffs will bolster the US car industry by encouraging manufacturing on American soil.
“Our analysis suggests that the tariff applies to nearly one third of the price of the car,” she said.
Announcing the tariffs, the White House said: “President Trump is taking action to protect America’s automobile industry, which is vital to national security and has been undermined by excessive imports threatening America’s domestic industrial base and supply chains.
Tesla’s US manufacturing gives it an edge on competitors
But Tesla is set to be less affected than other manufacturers, and could benefit from its competitors being more acutely hit.
All of Tesla’s US-sold vehicles are made in country, whereas Toyota imports 55 per cent of vehicles sold in the US, and General Motors imports 48 per cent of vehicles for its US sales, according to research from Bernstein.
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Its analysts concluded that “with near-total US sourcing, the company not only avoids pain but stands to gain margin as competitors raise prices.”
Musk has said that the firm is “not unscathed here” and that “the tariff impact on Tesla is still significant.”
Tesla was approached for comment. Reuters contributed to reporting.
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