At least 17 Tesla cars were destroyed after a fire broke out at a dealership on the outskirts of Rome on Monday morning, according to Italian fire officials. No one was at the dealership when the fire broke out and no injuries have been reported.
The fire comes after a string of reports across Italy in recent weeks of Tesla vehicles being vandalized and defaced, with anti-Elon Musk and anti-Donald Trump sentiments written with spray paint.
Another car dealership burned down in northern Rome a week ago, destroying 30 cars, including used Teslas.
Also in Rome, several Teslas in the Garbatella neighborhood were defaced, according to police and social media posts.
Tesla dealerships in Milan have also been targeted by environmental groups in recent weeks.
Reports of Tesla vandalism have also surfaced in France and various parts of the United States, including the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast.
Quite the pattern. Notice how once something happens a few times, it becomes a normalized course of action. In a month or two we went from not hearing about this at all to seemingly many people across the world jumping in specifically on lighting things on fire. There have been some other approaches too, but burning things down seems to be an increasingly common response.
It’s interesting to see how specific kinds of resistance become sort of a behavioral trend. A few people lead by example and suddenly it starts to snowball. I wonder what other kinds of similar situations we’ll see play out over the next few months.
You don’t think it’s insurance fraud because they know the cars won’t sell?
Considering that it also extends to charging stations, that some of the Teslas are privately owned, and that people have been doing things like shooting at dealerships? I’m thinking not.
Once a company is large enough they may self insure. Even if they didn’t the rise in premiums from burning them would probably not be worth it
Honestly, I’ve been hearing about Tesla fires for a long time. The batteries are extremely delicate and once they catch fire there’s not a lot you can do about it because of the sheer intensity of the heat. These fires happen all the time and they often effect the property around them. In this instance there doesn’t appear to be any evidence it’s not the Teslas lighting themselves on fire as usual. It is however a great scapegoat that malicious actors could be lighting the vehicles on fire rather than it just being that the vehicles have always been very unsafe.