Tesla showrooms across the country look set to face a wave of protest stunts following the launch of a new campaign against the electric vehicle firm’s owner, Elon Musk.
Musk, who also owns Twitter/X, is a leading figure in Donald Trump’s US administration and is overseeing severe cuts to federal jobs, grants and public services under the co-ordination of his so-called ‘Department for Government Efficiency’ (DOGE).
However, sales of Teslas are reportedly on the decline across Europe in what some experts suggest is an apparent protest over Musk and his politics – as exemplified by frequent outbursts on his platform promoting figures such as the imprisoned British far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson) and other far-right groups like Britain First and Patriotic Alternative.
Musk was accused of whipping up racist anger in the run up to the anti-migrant riots in England last summer, and has repeatedly called for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to be deposed.
Now a new activist group, the People Vs Elon campaign, hopes to start a trend, after one of their members walked into Tesla’s Tottenham (London) dealership, with a cardboard cutout of Musk performing the Nazi salute, which he performed twice during Trump’s inauguration.
Staff demanded she remove the offensive cut-out – and threatened to sue if the video went online.
The footage has since gone viral with over two million views on TikTok alone. And now the woman behind it wants others to follow in her footsteps.
I’m telling you he’s gonna invent the ‘‘reverse class action lawsuit’’ and sue the entire population of the EU for not buying his cars enough. He’s already suing ad buyers for not buying Twitter ads.
I’ve probably blocked the Tesla subs here on Mbin/Lemmy, too lazy to check, but as soon as it became apparent Musk was killing Twitter for the Saudis with particular zeal and determination, I left Twitter, told anyone I could that Elon Musk was Nazi garbage, and blocked the Tesla subs. This wasn’t a difficult determination.
Turning point for me on Musk was his childish reaction to the whole rescuing those kids from that cave thing.
To be honest, I never paid much attention to Musk other than I was glad someone was making a solid push into the EV market.
But after his tweets to the professionals saying they couldn’t use his pressure vessels, it was clear Musk was stunted in his emotional/mental development.
Although the drop in UK sales is less than a half or even a third of what it is in other European countries. So we have work to do to catch up.