Things are heating up for Tesla (TSLA) — and not in a good way.
Police in Massachusetts said seven of the electric vehicle maker's charging stations were intentionally set on fire and the incident is being investigated as suspicious, CBS News reported.
💵💰Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter 💰💵
In recent weeks Tesla locations in several states have been the targets of vandalism.
Police recently reported graffiti at a Tesla dealership in Maryland a day after nearly 300 protesters gathered outside the business to protest Chief Executive Elon Musk and his push to slash government spending through the Department of Government Efficiency.
The graffiti said "No Musk" with a sign that resembled a swastika.
Tesla sales are sagging in the U.S. and elsewhere
In northern Colorado last month police arrested a suspect who had been wanted for allegedly placing incendiary devices at a Tesla dealership.
Musk had a prominent seat at President Donald Trump's joint address to Congress on March 4.
More Tesla:
- Sorry Elon, most Americans are uneasy with this Tesla technology
- Top analyst revisits Tesla stock price target following February slump
- Tesla may have lost the self-driving war in China before it began
“Thank you, Elon,” Trump told his biggest donor. "You're working very hard. He didn't need this. He didn't need this. We appreciate it."
$TSLA Tesla European sales continue to crash. Germany down -76% YoY in February after declining -59% YoY in January.
— JaguarAnalytics (@JaguarAnalytics) March 5, 2025
Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, UK all down -40% to -50% YoY in February after equally disaster January.
Just wow! Is nobody buying Tesla in Europe anymore? pic.twitter.com/dW6BOsj0CP
Tesla sales in the U.S. have been declining, off 1% in 2024 from the year earlier and marking the company's first annual sales decline in 12 years. Global EV sales have risen 7.3%.
And Tesla sales are sagging outside America as well.
Data from the China Passenger Car Association showed that Tesla’s February wholesale number, which includes exports and retail sales, dropped 49% year-over-year.
In Australia, Tesla recorded 1,592 sales in February, more than double the 739 deliveries notched in January but a 70% drop from a year earlier.
In January, Tesla's sales in Europe plummeted 45%, while the overall industry sales in the region surged 37%, according to Bloomberg.
In particular, the company is losing ground Germany, with Tesla registrations plummeting last month in the largest single-country car market in Europe.
“Tesla European sales continue to crash,” JaguarAnalytics said on X, the social media platform that Musk bought for $44 billion. “Just wow! Is nobody buying Tesla in Europe anymore?”
Tesla's growing Germany problem
Sales nosedived 76% to 1,429 cars in February, Bloomberg reported, citing the German Federal Motor Transport Authority. That's a stark contrast to overall electric vehicle registrations, which jumped 31% in February.
Musk courted controversy when he endorsed the far-right Alternative for Germany Party in the months leading up to the Feb. 23 election, throwing his weight behind an anti-immigrant, pro-Russian party that’s assailed the country’s political establishment.
While the AfD vaulted into second place, the likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has vowed to keep the party at arm’s length.
In addition, the carmaker is suspending output at plants that make the Model Y midsize SUV — by far its most popular vehicle — to rework assembly lines. Tesla’s factory in Grünheide, outside Berlin, is among the facilities that will lose several weeks of production due to the changeover.
And on top of everything else, Tesla is contending with attacks on railway infrastructure surrounding the company’s German plant last month.
The activist group that claimed responsibility for torching the equipment said online that it’s trying to prevent the company from expanding its factory.
Related: Tesla stock is facing a nightmare that it's not waking up from
Through the first two months of the year, Tesla’s sales are down 71% in Germany and 44% in France, the two biggest EV markets in the European Union.
Tesla shares are up nearly 50% from a year ago, but the stock is down 33% year-to-date.
Bank of America Securities slashed its price target on Tesla to $380 from $490 while affirming a neutral rating on the shares.
The stock has been under pressure in recent weeks due to concerns about new vehicle sales dropping in the EU in January, sentiment on the brand potentially souring, no news on the low-cost model launch, and risk to the launch of robotaxis, the investment firm's analysts said.
Related: Veteran fund manager unveils eye-popping S&P 500 forecast
