BERLIN: Police here are investigating politically motivated arson after four burnt-out Tesla cars emerged as possibly the latest in a string of protests against the electric car brand owned by far-right tech billionaire Elon Musk.
"All vehicles were completely destroyed," said police, who suspect arson by extremists after the four cars, parked in city streets around Berlin, were set on fire on Thursday night.
The fires, which also damaging five nearby cars, all started within about half an hour of each other in separate districts, including both wealthier areas of former West Berlin and the traditionally poorer former East Berlin.
The apparent attacks come amid rising protests against Tesla's chief executive Elon Musk in Germany, in part over his backing of the country's far-right Alternative for Germany.
With a gesture interpreted by some as a Nazi salute at the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, Musk had also touched a sensitive nerve for Germany, a country where the symbols and gestures associated with Nazism are illegal.
Police are also investigating after an image of Musk doing a straight-armed salute was projected onto the Tesla factory outside Berlin in January, spelling out the phrase "Heil Tesla", a play on the Nazi rally call of "Heil Hitler."
In Grünheide, south-east of Berlin, Europe’s only Tesla factory is located has created around 12,000 jobs, but also prompted protests over its plans to raze forest areas and over its environmental impact on a water protection area. Tesla argues its factory enables a switch to cleaner electric mobility.
Tesla registrations appear to have slumped in Germany in recent months, even as electric vehicle sales rise. Earlier in March, the mayor of the small Rhineland town of Eltville, Patrick Kunkel, announced he was saying goodbye to his Tesla car since he associates the brand with "autocratic thinking."
Germany's Tesla drivers' association previously said some owners in Berlin are so worried about their cars being damaged by anti-Musk protestors that they have stopped parking them on the streets.
In the US, meanwhile, Tesla cars have been vandalised and company dealerships have drawn protest since Musk emerged as a major backer of Donald Trump's successful US presidential campaign.
