On Sunday, Elon Musk described protests against him as “a big deal” and referenced the fact that Tesla’s stock price has been cut in half.
Tesla Takedown’s Global Day of Action on Saturday 29 March saw protests in around 10 UK cities, including Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield, and Winchester.
UK activists are also actively engaged in flyering parked Teslas and lobbying Octopus Energy to end their EV leasing deals:
View this post on Instagram
Tesla Takedown: rattled
Elon Musk’s Nazi salute on 20 January 2025 highlighted the tech billionaire’s role in supporting nationalists, authoritarians, climate change deniers and fossil fuel junkies around the world.
Coupled with the grotesque sight of the world’s richest man cutting funding to AIDS charities and cancer research under the banner of an internet meme (DOGE), it’s inspired a grassroots movement of peaceful, legal protests: Tesla Takedown.
Since the first, small demonstration in Manhattan on 4 February 2025, the decentralised movement has grown to cover more than 100 locations—including, now, the UK
The UK EV market boomed in Q1, ahead of tax changes that make buying high-priced EVs more expensive. In February, battery EVs including Tesla grew by almost 42%—with Tesla dramatically underperforming, at barely half of that. The pattern is set to repeat in the March figures, with Tesla losing market share amid strong year-on-year growth for EVs.
Tesla Takedown UK, the UK arm of the grassroots, decentralised Tesla Takedown movement, hopes analysts and journalists will see Tesla’s Q1 UK deliveries within the context of the broader EV boom—and Tesla’s ludicrous price/earnings ratio, which remains around 125.
Elon Musk under fire
“It’s likely Tesla will try to spin growth in the UK as a bright spot on their horizon, regardless of loss of market share,” says Theodora Sutcliffe, an organiser of the protests:
Musk has been spinning his results to juice his stock price for a long time, and we’re asking journos not to play along.
John Gorenfeld, who created the first UK Tesla Takedown protest as what could have been a one-man protest, said:
I’m hearing from people all over Britain that after the helplessness and sadness of seeing Trump and his gang storm back into power, this weak spot that we’ve found in Elon Musk’s armour is giving them hope.
Some cities are still planning their next protest dates, but upcoming UK protests confirmed at time of writing include:
● Tesla Bristol, 5 Centaurus Road Patchway, 11am, 19 April
● Tesla Leeds, 7 Whitehouse Street, Hunslet, 11am, 12 April
● Tesla Park Royal, 152 Duke’s Road, London, 11am, 5 April, 12 April
● Tesla Manchester South, 396 Wellington Road N, Stockport, 11am, 12 April
● Tesla Nottingham, 5–27 Loughborough Road, 11am, 5 April
● Tesla Winchester, Easton Lane, Winchester, 11am, 12 April
Featured image supplied
