Tesla owners are finding ways to distance themselves from CEO Elon Musk after his controversial involvement with the U.S. government has sparked anger towards the California-based automaker.
Tesla owners across North America are reporting swastikas and other anti-Musk messages spray painted on their vehicles as a way to protest against the South African-Canadian businessman. To prevent this happening to their cars, some Tesla owners have started using creative methods to show their displeasure towards Elon.
One owner in Ontario was photographed with a bumper sticker reading, “We bought this before we knew Elon was crazy,” one of the more popular styles of distancing methods. One shop that carries the stickers reported selling hundreds per day.
Some owners are removing the Tesla badging from their vehicles and installing the badges of other major automakers on them. These include the badges from a Honda Civic and Audi A5 on the Model 3, while one Model S and a fairly new Model Y were converted into Mazdas.
Although Tesla badge swapping isn’t new, with some of the photos dating back to 2022, other owners are considering doing the same thing, or removing them altogether due to the recent spike in arson and graffiti damage.
One example of the damages was shown by DriveTeslaCA, in which a man in Guelph was caught on a Tesla sentrycam using mud to draw a swastika on a Cybertruck. The incident was reported to local police, and questions have risen as to whether this can be classified as a hate crime.
One Cybertruck group on Facebook was spotted by 404 media complaining about the mockery and graffiti their controversial pickups are receiving. One owner shared sentrycam of their Cybertruck getting slices of American Cheese being thrown onto the vehicle’s hood and windshield. (I wish I was kidding.)
Another post from the Facebook group shows trucks with messages left on the windows and windshields of vehicles, mentioning Musk’s anti-semitic remarks, and one that was a bit more sexual in nature. Another post showed a road rage incident involving the Tesla owner that led to group members tracking down the other driver’s LinkedIn profile.
Two more photos have circulated showing Tesla retailers in Canada with anti-Musk slogans spray painted on the signage. Even Superchargers aren’t safe, as one in New Brunswick was targeted by vandals.
