‘It worries me’: Upwards of 80 Tesla cars damaged at Hamilton dealership

Hamilton police said upwards of 80 Tesla vehicles were damaged at a dealership on Wednesday.

Authorities were called to the Tesla dealership at 999 Upper Wentworth Street near Upper Sherman Avenue and Mohawk Road East for a report of damage to some of the vehicles in the store’s inventory.

Officers responded and found that more than 80 Tesla vehicles parked outdoors had been damaged, suffering deep scratches, punctured tires, and other forms of vandalism, police said.

Officers are reviewing CCTV footage and asking the public for assistance with the investigation.

In recent weeks, incidents of vandalism against Tesla vehicles, dealerships, and charging stations have surged across the United States and internationally. This appears to be primarily motivated by political opposition to Elon Musk’s recent governmental role with the Trump administration.

“It worries me,” said one Tesla owner in an interview with CityNews. “I’m driving basically every week down to the U.S. for business. I am really concerned. I see a lot of middle fingers. Yes, it concerns me.”

About two dozen protesters gathered outside a Tesla dealership in Surrey, B.C., last weekend, the day after a similar protest in Vancouver, holding signs with messages including “elbows up,” “Elon be-gone,” and “democracy dies in apathy.”

Prosecutors in Colorado charged a woman last month in connection with attacks on Tesla dealerships, including Molotov cocktails thrown at vehicles and the words “Nazi cars” spray-painted on a building.

Tesla stock doubled in value in the weeks after Trump’s election but has since shed all those gains.

“If you have a Tesla, everybody looks at you, and you represent renewable energy. All of the positive things,” the Canadian Tesla owner said. “Now, all of a sudden, it turned around.”

With files from The Associated Press