17 Teslas destroyed following blaze at Rome dealership
Baku, April 1, AZERTAC
A fire broke out at a Tesla dealership in Rome early on Monday, destroying 17 cars and damaging the building, firefighters told Business Insider.
Emergency services were called to the site in Torre Angela at about 4:30 a.m. local time, they said.
No injuries have been reported and investigators haven't specified the cause of the fire, adding investigators were looking into multiple causes, including possible malice.
Local reports say Teslas have been vandalized in other parts of Rome in recent weeks, with some defaced with black spray paint.
Tesla Showroom Rome didn't immediately reply to a request for comments.
The incident comes as CEO Elon Musk's aggressive cost-cutting efforts at DOGE have sparked a backlash against his EV maker.
Over the past three months, Tesla facilities have faced arson attacks, vandalism, and boycott calls in the US and Europe. Tesla stock fell another 5% on Monday, extending the decline this year to 34%. JPMorgan analysts recently slashed their price target to just $135.
Business Insider's Lakshmi Varanasi reported she saw nearly 400 protesters armed with flags and signs outside a Tesla showroom in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Saturday. They were calling for Musk to leave the White House.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has said he's shocked by the violence, calling it "insane and deeply wrong" in an X post earlier this month: "Tesla just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks."
In another post, Musk wrote: "Has there ever been such a level of coordinated violence against a peaceful company? I understand not wanting to buy a product, but this is extreme arson and destruction!"
Steven Callander, a professor of political economy at Stanford Graduate School of Business, previously told BI the backlash for his political actions was "inevitable," saying the "real cost to Tesla will be the lost sales and the brand damage" — not the vandalism.
New Tesla registrations in the US tumbled 11% in January — even as Ford's EV sales soared 54% — and the picture was worse in Europe as sales plunged more than 40% in February, industry reports show. Tesla shares are down 45% from their December high.
Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, made a similar observation in a note last week, saying: "Musk leading DOGE has essentially taken on a life of its own, as in the process Tesla has unfortunately become a political symbol globally."
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