An investigation is underway after 17 vehicles were torched at a Tesla dealership in Rome, the second major fire in a week that damaged Teslas.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a public friendship with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose hometown has reported recent acts of vandalism against the electric vehicle company. Meloni has been in office since 2022.
Italian officials are working to determine the cause of the fire by reviewing surveillance video from the vehicles. Teslas have cameras that record activity outside of the car even when it is turned off. No injuries were reported from this fire. Rome’s fire service claimed to be reviewing “all avenues” in terms of a cause, implying it could have been arson.
A week ago, another Italian dealership lost 30 cars to a fire, including some Teslas. Other Tesla dealerships in Ottawa, Canada, and Berlin have been vandalized with spray paint.
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In the United States, vandals who perpetrated attacks on Tesla vehicles that include keying and lighting them ablaze with Molotov cocktails are facing federal hate crime charges.
Tesla has been increasingly under attack since Musk endorsed President Donald Trump and became his senior adviser for the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk has become the face of the Department of Government Efficiency, which has directed cuts to federal spending and, in some cases, foreign aid.
