Compounding the company’s public relations woes, the Vancouver International Auto Show announced it was removing Tesla from the event on the eve of its Wednesday kick-off, citing security concerns.
Politics “has absolutely no bearing on the decision”, the show’s executive director Eric Nicholl said late on Tuesday. “This is purely from a safety point for our guests and our attendees.”
In an interview at the White House late on Tuesday, Musk told Fox News he was “shocked” at the attacks on Tesla vehicles and the “hatred and violence from the left”.
“Tesla is a peaceful company, we’ve never done anything harmful,” he said.
Several Tesla vehicles, dealerships and charging stations across the United States and Europe have been vandalised in recent weeks.
A Tesla charging station in the US state of Massachusetts was “intentionally set” on fire in early March, authorities said, while in Colorado police said last month that they arrested a woman for vandalising a dealership “with incendiary devices”.
Trump expressed support for Musk last week, saying the perpetrators would be caught and will “go through hell”.
Analysts also say Musk’s political endeavours – including backing far-right parties in Europe and sharing conspiracy theories online – could badly damage Tesla’s traditionally liberal market base.
