March 31 (UPI) — Several Tesla vehicles at a dealership near Rome were destroyed overnight in what officials say was likely arson.
No injuries were reported Monday morning when reports of fires broke out where at least 17 Tesla’s were destroyed, according to Italian officials, adding “all avenues” were being investigated into how it started.
Officials said the dealership owners were interviewed by police and surveillance footage was being looked at.
Another dealership burned down about a week ago north of Rome where 30 vehicles, including Tesla’s, were also destroyed in a fire blamed initially on an electrical fault with its own separate investigation underway.
The incidents came amid a string of other similar incidents locally in Garbatella, other parts of Europe like France and across the United States.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that his role working alongside President Donald Trump’s administration through the Department of Government Efficiency has led to backlash aimed at harming the company’s stock.
“What they’re trying to do is put massive pressure on me and Tesla I guess, to … stop doing this,” Musk told Bloomberg. “My Tesla stock and the stock of everyone who holds Tesla has gone, went roughly in half. I mean it’s a big deal.”
Multiple U.S. officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, have characterized recent vandalsim against Teslas as “domestic terrorism.”
Last week, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a task force to look into the recent acts of vandalism amid scores of peaceful “Tesla Takedown” protests in recent days at Tesla locations in the United States in response to DOGE’s gutting of the federal bureaucracy and arbitrary elimination of thousands of federal jobs.
Sales of Tesla cars, with its recent recall of thousands of Cybertrucks over various issues, have fallen globally with European sales down 49% in the first two months of 2025 while the overall sale of EV’s has risen.
Meanwhile, there was a 35% drop in sales in the four months following Trump’s November election win versus sales compared to the previous year, according to data from Australia’s Electric Vehicle Council.
