Tesla Takedown Continues Impacting Musk

This week’s “Dance Against DOGE” and “Tesla Takedown” protest at the company’s showroom here featured crowd-pleasing music and a symphony of car horns responding to “Honk if you hate Musk” signs in demonstrating passing motorists’ dislike.

One activist held a sign quoting iSeeCars, a website, saying: “Tesla highest Fatalities/Miles” driven in the US while a counterintuitive sign at the entrance of the showroom touted that in a Tesla you can “Experience Full Self-Driving (Supervised).” Presumably “supervised” means just that, thus rendering the ability for “Full Self-Driving” moot.

An article in Road and Track magazine discussing the issue of Tesla safety pointed out that it may be due to a combination of “other factors” rather than an inherent flaw in the car’s design. However, for some owners given the cars are being promoted as capable of being “Full Self-Driving” may be misleading, by making them overly confident when using the feature. Another issue reported by some owners is the large screen that is the control center for all the vehicles functions which some have complained distracts them while driving.

The international Tesla Takedown campaign has contributed to sending Tesla (TSLA) stock prices tumbling 71 percent below their January 2025 value. European sales also have decreased overall by 32.7 percent. Most notably are the April car sales in Sweden which decreased the most by 81percent as people continue to disassociate themselves from both Musk and the car that has become emblematic of him.

Globally, Tesla sales have now entered their largest decline in the company’s history and shocked many who had witnessed quarterly sales increases since the economy began to recover after the pandemic.

Sales in the US have also been underwhelming because of increased competition, accompanied by a general distaste of Musk’s DOGE and as a backlash of his activities and other actions and antics.

Musk’s personal fortune has also taken a hit for an estimated loss of $132 billion this year alone. Owners wishing to disassociate themselves from Tesla and Musk and the undesirability of being seen driving one of the cars have sold or traded them in at a loss because of plummeting desirability. Many former owners overwhelmingly convinced of the viability of EV ownership have moved on to competitor’s models that are less socially and visually toxic.

Musk, who recently announced that he will be stepping down from DOGE to spend more time at Tesla, has claimed through their efforts to have saved the government “$160 billion.”

According to the Partnership for Public Service, DOGE’s actions this year alone “…will cost taxpayers around $135 billion in lost productivity, rehiring costs, and other administrative expenses” excluding losses related to defending a massive number of lawsuits and the impact of lost tax revenue due to IRS staff reductions.
Report and photos by Phil Pasquini

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