• by Tanya Gazdik , February 26, 2025

Tesla sales continue to falter while the anti-Elon Musk sentiment continues to build.

“Tesla sales almost halved in Europe in January, the month of Donald Trump’s inauguration – quite possibly due to the far-right politics of founder Elon Musk, who is the president’s right-hand man,” according to More About Advertising. “E-vehicle owners are likely to be a little more left-leaning, and sure enough Tesla sales were down 45% while the market as a whole grew by 34%.”

A group billing itself as Everyone Hates Elon is stoking the flames “with a guerrilla campaign in the U.K. and Germany that labels Tesla as The Swasticar. Musk’s support of far-right German party AfD and for alleged human trafficker Andrew Tate can’t have helped sales in Europe,” according to More About Advertising. 

“In Bethnal Green in East London, a poster has now emerged at a bus stop garnering significant online attention,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. “‘Goes from 0 to 1939 in 3 seconds,’ the image says, with a picture of Musk in a Tesla below. The photo is taken from the moment Musk, also the founder of SpaceX, made what looked like a Nazi salute at Trump’s January inauguration rally, drawing criticism from all over the globe. The poster dubs Tesla ‘The Swasticar.’”

The fake ad received over 6 million views on TikTok after just a few days, according to Newsweek.

The Everyone Hates Elon group has a GoFundMe page where proceeds go to the costs of campaigning against Musk. The group claims to have plastered “Don’t buy a swasticar” stickers across hundreds of Teslas in London.

Billionaire-turned-Trump-henchman Musk continues in his role as head of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency while remaining CEO of Tesla.

The anti-Musk sentiment also continues to ramp up in the U.S.

“In San Francisco, the intersection of Van Ness Avenue and O’Farrell Street is fast becoming the go-to hotspot for anti-Elon Musk resistance,” according to SF Gate. “On Saturday, the busy junction that plays home to Tesla’s lone car dealership in the city saw its fourth substantial protest in eight days. More than 100 people gathered — some for their second protest of the week — to chant, wave signs, scare away potential customers and commiserate about the CEO’s power grab in the federal government.”

One sign suggests that drivers “Honk if you hate Elon.” 

Some embarrassed Tesla owners worldwide are putting “I bought this before Elon went crazy” stickers onto their vehicles. In Norway, Kia is getting in on the joke with its own sticker asserting that former Tesla owners are switching to Kia with a similar sticker: “I bought this after Elon went crazy.”