Canadian car show kicks out Tesla, citing safety concerns amid Musk protests

Vancouver: Elon Musk’s Tesla has been kicked out of a Canadian car show over safety concerns for the public after a spate of destructive attacks on the electric car brand at the weekend, which the Trump administration has condemned as “domestic terrorism”.

Vancouver International Auto Show executive director Eric Nicholl said organisers had pulled Tesla as an exhibitor at the event, which runs this week, because of a “primary concern” for the safety of workers, attendees and exhibitors. Nicholl said Tesla had been provided with “multiple opportunities to voluntarily withdraw” before the organisers made the decision.

Police are investigating after several vehicles were set on fire at a Tesla service centre in Las Vegas.Credit: AP

Largely peaceful “Tesla Takedown” protests targeting Tesla dealerships have swept across North America and the world over the past month, denouncing Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, and his role advising US President Donald Trump. Trump has infuriated Canadians, imposing tariffs on Canadian imports and repeatedly threatening to make Canada the 51st American state.

While a representative for the protest movement said it opposed violence and destruction of property, law enforcement officials are investigating a series of incidents in the United States – from Colorado to California, Oregon and Seattle – where Tesla vehicles, showrooms and charging stations have been set alight, painted with graffiti, and peppered with bullets.

On Wednesday (AEDT), US Attorney-General Pam Bondi condemned the “swarm” of attacks as “nothing short of domestic terrorism”.

“We will continue investigations that impose severe consequences on those involved in these attacks, including those operating behind the scenes to co-ordinate and fund these crimes,” she said in a statement.

A person protesting Elon Musk’s actions in the Trump administration holds a sign outside a Tesla showroom in Seattle.Credit: AP

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment, but Musk addressed the vandalism on his social media platform, X, on Tuesday.

“This level of violence is insane and deeply wrong,” he wrote, sharing a video of burning Teslas in Las Vegas. “Tesla just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks.”

Experts on domestic extremism say it’s impossible to know yet if the spate of incidents will balloon into a long-term pattern.

“Tesla is an easy target,” sociologist Randy Blazak said. “They’re rolling down our streets. They have dealerships in our neighbourhoods.”

Colin Clarke, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Centre, said left-wing political violence tended to target property rather than people, and he viewed the rise of neo-Nazi groups as a bigger security threat at this point.

“I’s not the type of act that I would prioritise,” Clarke said. “Not right now compared to all the other threats that are out there.”

In Las Vegas, several Tesla vehicles were shot at and set alight on Tuesday, including with Molotov cocktails, in the latest incident involving the brand.

“Was this terrorism? Was it something else? It certainly has some of the hallmarks that we might think – the writing on the wall, potential political agenda, an act of violence,” FBI special agent Spencer Evans said. “None of those factors are lost on us.”

In Canada at the weekend, dozens of peaceful protesters gathered outside Tesla dealerships in British Columbia. One of them, Pat McCutcheon, said the organisers of the Vancouver car show had done the right thing by removing Tesla from the event, which runs until Sunday.

“Given the temperature of the situation, there are people, unfortunately, out there that are very annoyed with the Tesla situation and the Elon Musk situation,” he said, adding there was a “fair amount of emotion” surrounding Tesla.

“The last thing you want [for] one of your organisations is for there to be some vandalism or some physical confrontation. So I think they made the right decision,” he said.

“Elon Musk is using his extraordinary wealth to basically corrupt democracy and do what he wants to do, and citizens, both in the United States, Canada, globally, need to push back on this.”

AP, Bloomberg, Reuters

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