Elon Musk’s toxicity among many Europeans is such that even owners of Tesla news websites have ditched Muskmobiles for other EV brands. Jon Gibbs of Birmingham, England, runs what he calls the “world’s biggest Tesla inventory site." Tesla-info, Gibbs says, stores the “largest database of new and used Tesla motors in the world.” He used to own one himself—but he now drives a BMW iX electric SUV.
Likewise, Tim Kraaijvanger of the Netherlands, founder of Tesla360.nl, a Dutch everything-Tesla site, recently sold his Model Y and bought a Polestar instead. Both entrepreneurs pin their car switch on Musk’s support for European far-right political parties and his inauguration rally arm gestures.
“While Musk might get away with a [Nazi-like] salute in some parts of the world, European markets reject such behavior,” Kraaijvanger tells WIRED. “World War II still casts a long shadow." He may be right. Tesla sales are in free fall in Europe right now. Last month, Norway—where EVs overtook internal combustion vehicles in total market share in 2024—recorded a biting 37.9 percent slump. At the same time, Tesla sales in France fell by a thumping 63.4 percent. And it gets even worse: In Spain, Tesla sales plummeted by 75.4 percent.
Kraaijvanger, founder of online marketing firm Stormachtig, started Tesla360.nl in 2020, then rolled out a German version three years later. He has owned several Tesla cars and, later this year, planned to upgrade to the refreshed $59,990 Model Y Juniper. Offloading his current Model Y has cost him dearly: “I received only about half of the [Tesla’s] original new price when selling it,” he revealed. “But I do not wish to be associated with [Musk’s] ideology.”
He has yet to ditch his URLs, but then running websites is mainly anonymous. On the other hand, driving a Tesla on public roads is becoming increasingly problematic in Europe. Social media is rife with images of Teslas vandalized with Swastikas and expletives. Dealerships are also being targeted. Vandals sprayed graffiti on a Tesla car showroom in The Hague in early February, defacing the building with “No to Nazis” and sweary anti-fascist slogans.
On a grander scale, the English campaign group Led by Donkeys recently teamed up with Germany’s Center for Political Beauty to beam an image of Elon Musk making the inauguration salute onto Tesla’s gigafactory in Berlin, with the word “Heil” projected next to the lit Tesla logo. “This is who Elon Musk really is,” stressed Led by Donkeys across their well-followed social media accounts. “Don’t buy a Tesla” urged the activists.
Startup crowdfunded group Everyone Hates Elon has been distributing anti-Tesla stickers in London with left-wing outlet Novara Media reporting that “hundreds” of Tesla owners have returned to their parked EVs to find them defaced with hard-to-remove roundels featuring a grinning Musk plastered with a Hitler-aping toothbrush mustache and the request not to “buy a Swastikar.”