Summary

A suspect vandalized and set fire to Teslas at a Las Vegas Collision Center early Tuesday in what police call a “targeted attack.”

The assailant, dressed in black, shot at five vehicles, torched two, and left an undetonated Molotov cocktail. They also spray-painted “Resist” on the building.

Authorities have not confirmed a political motive but noted Elon Musk’s ties to Trump. The FBI is investigating, warning that such acts are federal crimes.

Tesla has faced backlash amid Musk’s government role and far-right politics.

  • reddig33@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    Burning Teslas is stupid and wasteful. All this does is get Elon a free check from the insurance company.

    Protesting and stigmatizing buying a Tesla works better.

    • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      13 hours ago

      Fuck being “wasteful”. It makes consumers think twice about buying one, which is the actual intended consequence.

      Elope doesn’t care about the insurance payout on a handful of undelivered units. Theres been like <30 cars burnt so far. Manufacturers lose hundreds of vehicles to random damage and acts of god every year.

      But the brand damage and resulting tens of thousands of lost sales caused by consumers seeing this and thinking “I may be a target if I buy this car”… THAT makes a dent in the bottom line, and is market pressure working as intended.

    • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      Protesting and stigmatizing buying a Tesla works better.

      Maybe if you are are someone who expects change to just magically “appear” and for the system to simply correct itself so that they can go back to consuming.

      Protest without the ultimate threat of force behind it is a parade.

      Steal them and strip them for their batteries and parts instead.

      • courageousstep@lemm.ee
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        13 hours ago

        Protest without the ultimate threat of force behind it is a parade.

        I’ve never heard it worded this way, before, but it sums up something that has been bothering me about modern protests: they are parades.

    • Pistcow@lemm.ee
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      13 hours ago

      No, it bring attention to him being a shitbag. Burn them all down.

    • PurpleSkull@lemm.ee
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      10 hours ago

      If this keeps up, no insurance company will insure Teslas anymore. I’m fairly sure the prices for that have already gone up and will continue to do so. It’s a high-risk asset now.

      Elon doesn’t get anything. Well unless the troglodyte having his Tesla just burned down goes out and buys another in hopes this one won’t combust or see him on the wrong side of a mob.

    • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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      13 hours ago

      Exactly. If they weren’t going to sell, and signs are pointing that they aren’t, then the vandalizing is just giving them money via insurance as stated.

      And leave the people alone that already had Tesla’s prior to Musk going mask-off. They were trying to be part of the solution (moving to EVs) and there’s no reason to harass/attack/vandalize them.

      But definitely point and laugh at anyone going out and buying a Tesla now.

      • drzoidberg@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        It raises the price they have to pay thousands of other teslas, and if it happens enough, insurance will drop them. Insurance companies don’t want to pay out, and they will pull coverage when it becomes too expensive for them to insure.

        • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
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          13 hours ago

          I just came across this relevant article this morning.

          “If vandalism involving Tesla vehicles continues to rise and doesn’t go back down, we could see rates rise for comprehensive coverage in the future,” he said.

          Martin explained that when carried, vandalism is covered by the comprehensive portion of an auto policy. While vandalism claims typically don’t increase insurance rates as much as collision claims, they can impact rates, she explained.

          Martin added: “Since the recent rise in vandalism is focused on Teslas and not other make vehicles, drivers who carry Tesla Insurance may see a higher premium hike than those who have coverage with other carriers, since the risk of loss isn’t as diversified.”

          • drzoidberg@lemmy.world
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            6 hours ago

            Absolutely. Insurance companies are in the business of not paying insurance claims. They’re not in the business of just wantonly giving out money. If they pay out to a client often enough, they drop that client. It’s even worse for the insurance companies, cause the cars haven’t even depreciated in value yet, they’re still on the lot and unsold. Their retail value is set, and every swasitruck that burns, is another $100k payout. Insurance companies will only pay out so many times before their risk assessment team says it’s not worth it.

            And once you’re dropped from one company cause you’re a high risk, every other insurance provider raises their rates for you, or they refuse because they don’t want the loss.

            Burn enough swastikars and there’s no insurance, and that’s when you start to literally burn his money.

          • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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            13 hours ago

            That’s great.

            Nobody cares if you gasp at the sight of protest outside of the designated protest area . Just like nobody cares if you disapprove of a picket line blocking a road because how dare they.

          • NameTaken@lemmy.world
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            13 hours ago

            Like what is the end goal here put Tesla out of business? Does anyone believe this would hurt Elon? Say Tesla went bankrupt, so now Elon musk would be worth $230 billion instead of $330 billion. He would live his life exactly the same but now thousands of normal people are underwater on their cars. How is this “winning”?

            What am I missing here?

            • cabron_offsets@lemmy.world
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              12 hours ago

              TSLA market cap $766B. That’s a nice loss, if it could be achieved.

              Besides, what you’re missing is quite obvious: the only thing that musk understands is fear. Make your own inferences.

              • NameTaken@lemmy.world
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                12 hours ago

                You understand that he only ownes 10 or 15% of Tesla. The majority of that is probably held by index funds and other peoples 401ks. So again normal people would loose a lot of money.

                If Tesla went bankrupt it would literally be a drop in the bucket for Musk. Also what would he fear? He can pay for his own boat or literal island and security. Saying people should go after musk vs go after anyone who drives a Tesla is very different.

                • elbucho@lemmy.world
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                  9 hours ago

                  $TSLA is a huge, bloated bubble filled with nothing but hype. If they were treated by the market as just a regular old car company (like Ford [$F] or General Motors [$GM]), their market cap would be a tiny fraction of what it is currently. Their market cap at the closing bell today is $724 billion, with a stock price of $224 per share. Compare that to Ford (which has more than twice Tesla’s yearly global sales figures) with a market cap of $39.4 billion and a stock price of $10 / share. Or to GMC (which has sales figures about 60% higher than Tesla’s) at a market cap of $48.4 billion and a stock price of $49 / share.

                  If Tesla’s stock was valued based on their actual business instead of investor hype driven by mind-boggling adoration for their CEO, their market cap would probably be around $20 billion, which with their current number of outstanding shares, would put the price at around $6.20 per share.

                  Ok, so you might throw out the fact that Tesla also sells batteries and has their hands in AI and other things. Those are all very small parts of their overall yearly business, but the market is also based on future expectations. Let’s say that a fair price for their stock would be maybe $10 / share. $12 at the absolute most.

                  It’s at $224 per share today. In December of last year, it hit a high of $480.

                  $TSLA is the modern version of the Dutch tulip market in the 1630s. Its perceived value bears absolutely zero resemblance to its actual value. You’re worried about investors losing their shirts on this, but this shit has been vaporware from the beginning. Anybody who based their investment strategy around Tesla’s stock has been playing roulette. Am I supposed to feel bad about them losing because they bet on black instead of red?

                • cabron_offsets@lemmy.world
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                  12 hours ago

                  I don’t give a fuck how much he owns. The point is to hose all the fat fucks and to brand him as toxic. And to familiarize those assholes with urgent dread.

            • grue@lemmy.world
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              12 hours ago

              Musk’s purchase of Twitter was backed by Tesla stock. If the stock tanks enough, that bill comes due.

              • NameTaken@lemmy.world
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                12 hours ago

                No it doesn’t that not how it works ugh…

                We’re in this whole mess because people don’t think through their words and actions. Anyone advocating blindly going after anyone with a Tesla then you’re really no better then Musk.

                On that note do I have the answers on how to fix this mess, no, but I know it’s not this.

            • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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              13 hours ago

              Basically people pissed off and need an outlet for that but can’t see the forest for the trees. 🤷‍♂️