Latest news with #Swasticar
Metro
3 days ago
- Politics
- Metro
Readers say Elon Musk's not the victim he thinks he is
Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments. It touched my heart to read Elon Musk's lament about being treated unfairly by the White House as he leaves his role in Donald Trump's administration (Metro, Thu). The Tesla boss said his department of government efficiency was 'becoming the whipping boy for everyone'. Well, yes, there are reasons for that. Government departments gutted and deprived of experienced, dedicated staff, thousands made jobless, livelihoods wrecked and families thrown into uncertainty. It's not the best way to become Mr Popular. Around the globe, ordinary people such as us are powerless against an unelected tyrant with a chainsaw who mimics the Nazi salute. Is it surprising that some take out their frustration on Musk's most potent symbol, which some call the Swasticar? So sorry you don't feel appreciated, Elon, but perhaps you should have read the safety instructions before you used that chainsaw. Stephen Spark, Balham Saudi Arabia imprisons its women for disobedience and makes them go though hell (Metro, Thu), while in this country it buys football teams etc. So much for human rights – money talks. If Vladimir Putin had bought a football team, we would have stood by and let him take over the world. Alan, Sunderland To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Further to the debate on the issue in light of Sir Keir Starmer's 'reset' deal with the EU, it doesn't matter whether Brexit was good or bad, it was the will of the people. If this country is a democracy, then we should abide by it. Roger, Wolverhampton Thank you for Clark's letter calling for a £300 cat licence to combat the environmental damage caused by the popular pets in killing millions of birds and small mammals each year (MetroTalk, Fri). It did brighten my morning commute and was a much-needed diversion from the norm. Perhaps Clark would care to expand on his theme and explain how it would be administered or enforced. Leaving aside these logistical issues, I would say that given that we humans are the primary engineers of the planet's destruction, it is somewhat unreasonable to lay the blame on creatures who are only doing what nature has programmed them to do. A lot of the small mammals referred to are unwelcome invaders of our homes. We spend money on traps, poisons and other preventative measures, which have a knock-on effect on wildlife and the environment. To address Clark's point about cats' mess, in what way is flushing your toilet and leaving waste products for someone else to deal with any different from cats messing outside their 'gardens'? How would you go about educating them? Share the Land Registry plans with them, maybe? Marc, Halifax (Owned By A Cat) Motorists have complained about a £2million Dutch-style 'woke' roundabout opening in Hemel Hempstead, where drivers must give priority to pedestrians and then cyclists (Metro, Thu). Some say it's used only by cars and lorries. Not true. Until a few years ago I used it daily by bike to travel to work and every day was a frightening experience. Many work colleagues also cycled or walked this route. As to the driver who reported 'needing eyes everywhere' to navigate it, should that not be what they are required to do anyway? Alan Croxley, via email Given how many you've published of late, do you have to write a not-funny doctor joke to get in the paper nowadays? Anyway, there's a true story that's much funnier. Bristol Zoo's Alfred the gorilla died in 1948, was then stuffed and exhibited in the museum. More Trending He was stolen in 1956 but turned up in a doctors' waiting room three days later. The receptionist told a doctor there was someone in a gorilla suit in the waiting room. The doctor said, 'Tell him to get stuffed!' The theft remained a mystery until the death of Bristol estate agent in 2010. His family admitted he and others had stolen the gorilla as a rag-week stunt. G Perry, Bristol By way of reply to Stuart's ode to the R68 bus (MetroTalk, Tue). I confess I cannot compete with a Royal Palace or the National Archives at Kew / Nevertheless I serve a purpose, too / Every day my passengers might be heard to say, Oh 33 / Where would I be without you there to ferry me? / Here to work, there to play / Here by night and there by day? / From Castelnau to Fulwell Garage / No one should this route disparage! Pat Erasmus, Teddington MORE: 'Philip Kingsley's Swimcap is my new summer essential for sun and sea haircare' MORE: River Thames boat fire leaves baby and eight others in hospital MORE: Britain to spend £1,500,000,000 on new weapons factories in 'message' to Putin
Express Tribune
14-05-2025
- Automotive
- Express Tribune
Cybertruck flop? Tesla stuck with $800M in unsold inventory amid slump
Tesla is reportedly stuck with over $800 million worth of unsold Cybertrucks, as dealerships sit on more than 10,000 units of the stainless-steel pickup once hyped as the future of electric vehicles. Elon Musk once claimed Tesla could sell 250,000 Cybertrucks a year. But less than 6,500 were sold in the first quarter of 2025, putting the company far behind even modest expectations. At this rate, the 'armoured' truck is shaping up to be Tesla's first major flop in years. Critics argue the vehicle's brutalist design, patchy build quality, and Musk's increasingly controversial public stances have turned the Cybertruck into more of a culture war symbol than a transportation breakthrough. Some detractors have dubbed it the 'Swasticar,' reflecting the backlash Musk faces for aligning with far-right political narratives. Even a new $69,990 rear-wheel-drive model released in April failed to spark meaningful demand. Tesla has since quietly redirected workers from Cybertruck production back to the more stable Model Y line. While Tesla hasn't issued an official sales revision, analysts say the writing is on the wall. What was pitched as a sci-fi leap forward now risks becoming a cautionary tale — part midlife-crisis machine, part PR disaster. Elon Musk may have imagined the Cybertruck revolutionising roads. For now, it's just clogging up parking lots.
The Guardian
10-04-2025
- Automotive
- The Guardian
Sledgehammer-wielding Musk critics smash up Tesla in London art project
Protective helmets were donned and sledgehammers wielded as Elon Musk critics vented their frustration at the Tesla boss and billionaire by smashing up a disused Tesla bound for the scrap heap. The public art project was organised by the social media campaign group Everyone Hates Elon. A 2014 Tesla Model S was provided by an anonymous donor 'to create a debate about wealth inequality', a spokesperson for the group said. The participants gathered at Hardess studios in south London on Thursday to take it in turns to swing at the car with sledgehammers and baseball bats. The destroyed electric vehicle, which retails for about £14,000, will be auctioned in the next few weeks, with all proceeds going to food bank charities. 'We're giving Londoners a chance to stand up to far-right hatred and billionaires and express how they feel about the current state of the world,' said the group. 'Therapy is expensive, but this is free.' Talia Denisenko, a 32-year-old writer, wore a Ukrainian flag as she took a hammer to the car's bonnet as Britney Spears's Hit Me Baby One More Time blared from a speaker. 'My family is Ukrainian and Elon Musk wants to keep us occupied,' she said. 'Things feel very disempowering at the moment. This is a little bit of therapy.' Alice Rogers, a 24-year-old University of Cambridge researcher from Illinois, said: 'Musk is acting in ways which violates our constitution. I'm very concerned by what I'm seeing – he's gutting agencies and cutting USAID. This felt really cathartic. I'm not normally a smasher, but that felt really good.' Everyone Hates Elon, which garnered attention this year for distributing stickers with the slogan 'Don't buy a Swasticar', said it had made clear that the stunt, called London vs Musk, should not be replicated outside the event. 'This is a private event with a used Tesla that was destined for the scrapyard – it's a supervised, controlled art piece and there are proper safety measures in place,' said a spokesperson. 'We urge people not to damage other Teslas or any other cars.' The battery of the scrap car had been removed and recycled. 'I'm just aghast at what I see going on in America at the moment,' said Lee Woods, a 45-year-old university lecturer who had travelled two hours from Hampshire for the event. 'I think Musk is using his obscene wealth to promote the far right.' Musk, the world's richest person, leads the Trump administration's 'department of government efficiency' (Doge), which the president tasked with drastically reducing US government jobs and cutting national debt. Tesla's shares dropped 13% in the first three months of 2025 – an indication of buyer backlash as a result of Musk's rightwing politics. Protests calling for a boycott of the electric vehicle company have been taking place on both sides of the Atlantic in recent months, including a global day of action where hundreds of Tesla branches were targeted by protesters from the US group Tesla Takedown. 'My opinion [on Musk] has changed hugely,' said Giles Pearson, 32, who dealt the first blow on Thursday. 'Since buying Twitter he's become seriously rightwing and alienated a lot of people by doing so. I would never normally do something like this … but I've always wanted to smash a car.' Tesla was approached for comment.
CBS News
29-03-2025
- Automotive
- CBS News
Protesters rally against Elon Musk at Tesla showrooms over the continued U.S. government purge
Crowds protesting billionaire Elon Musk's purge of the U.S. government under President Trump began amassing outside Tesla dealerships throughout the U.S. and in some cities in Europe on Saturday in the latest attempt to dent the fortune of the world's richest man . The protesters are trying to escalate a movement targeting Tesla dealerships and vehicles in opposition to Musk's role as the head of the newly created Department of of Government Efficiency , or DOGE, where he's gained access to sensitive data and shuttered entire agencies as he attempts to slash government spending. Most of Musk's estimated $340 billion fortune consists of the stock he holds in the electric vehicle company that he continues to run while also working alongside Mr. Trump. Earlier protests have been somewhat sporadic. Saturday marked the first attempt to surround all 277 of the automaker's showrooms and service centers in the U.S. in hopes of deepening a recent decline in the company's sales. By early afternoon, crowds ranging from a few dozen to hundreds of protesters had flocked to Tesla locations in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Minnesota and the automaker's home state of Texas. Pictures posted on social media accounts showed protesters brandishing signs such as "Honk if you hate Elon" and "Fight the billionaire broligarchy." The Tesla Takedown movement also hoped to rally protestors at more than 230 Tesla locations in other parts of the world. Although the turnouts in Europe weren't as large as the crowds in the U.S., the anti-Musk sentiment was similar. About two dozen protesters held signs lambasting Musk outside a Tesla dealership in London as passing cars and trucks tooted horns in support. One of the signs displayed at the London protest showed a photo of Musk next to an image of Adolf Hitler making the Nazi salute — a gesture that Musk has been accused of reprising shortly after Mr. Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration. A person in a tyrannosaurus rex costume held another sign with a picture of Musk's straight-arm gesture that said, "You thought the Nazis were extinct. Don't buy a Swasticar." "We just want to get loud, make noise, make people aware of the problems that we're facing," said Cam Whitten, an American who showed up at the London protest. Tesla Takedown was organized by a group of supporters that included disillusioned owners of the automaker's vehicles, celebrities such as actor John Cusack, and at least one Democratic Party lawmaker, Rep. Jasmine Crockett from Dallas. "I'm going to keep screaming in the halls of Congress. I just need you all to make sure you all keep screaming in the streets," Crockett said during a Tesla Takedown organizing call held earlier this month. In New York City, mayoral hopeful and New York state Rep. Zohran Mamdani joined protesters at a Tesla showroom on Saturday. "We are here in a moment that demands all of us," Mandani told the crowd through a megaphone. "It demands all of us because the richest man in the world has purchased the president of the United States." Some people opposed to Musk have gone beyond protests and set the automaker's vehicles on fire and committed other acts of vandalism that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has decried as "nothing short of domestic terrorism." Musk indicated he was dumbfounded by the attacks during a March 20 company meeting and said the vandals should "stop acting psycho." Crockett and other Tesla Takedown supporters have been stressing the importance for Saturday's protests to remain peaceful. But police were investigating a fire that destroyed seven Tesla vehicles in northwestern Germany early Saturday morning. It was wasn't immediately clear if the blaze, which was extinguished by firefighters, was related to the Tesla Takedown protests. There have been vandalisms at Tesla dealerships acrossing the U.S., including fires in Nevada and Missouri, and graffiti at locations in Massachusetts and Maryland, CBS News previously reported. Since January 2025, incidents targeting Tesla EVs have occurred in at least nine states, according to a joint intelligence bulletin issued by the Department of Homeland Security and FBI and obtained by CBS News. Although U.S. intelligence suggests lone actors are behind them, Trump administration officials are promising to crack down on what they say are coordinated attacks. There have also been reports of vandalism to parked Teslas, making individual owners nervous. "My wife cautions me, 'Be careful where you are at with it,'" Bill Fonte told CBS New York . "If you don't like the product, don't buy it. But they're going above and beyond, creating panic and concern for normal people like me." A growing number of consumers who bought Tesla vehicles before Musk took over DOGE have been looking to sell or trade in their cars while others have slapped on bumper stickers seeking to distance themselves from the billionaire's efforts to prune or shut down government agencies. But Musk didn't appear concerned about an extended slump in sales of new Tesla cars in his March 20 address to employees. He reassured the workers that the company's Model Y, which is undergoing a refresh, would remain "the best-selling car on Earth again this year." He also predicted Tesla will have sold more than 10 million cars worldwide by next year, up from about 7 million cars now. "There are times when there are rocky moments, where there is stormy weather, but what I am here to tell you is that the future is incredibly bright and exciting," Musk said. After Mr. Trump was elected last November, investors initially saw Musk's alliance with the president as a positive development for Tesla and its long-running efforts to launch a network of self-driving cars. That optimism helped lift Tesla's stock by 70% in the period between Mr. Trump's Nov. 5 election and his Jan. 20 inauguration, creating an additional $560 billion in shareholder wealth. But virtually all those gains have evaporated amid investor worries about the Tesla backlash, lagging sales in the U.S., Europe and China, and Musk spending time overseeing DOGE. "This continues to be a moment of truth for Musk to navigate this brand tornado crisis moment and get onto the other side of this dark chapter for Tesla," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said in a research note leading up to Saturday's protests.
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Protesters rebelling against Elon Musk's purge of US government swarm Tesla showrooms
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Crowds protesting billionaire Elon Musk's purge of the U.S. government under President Donald Trump began amassing outside Tesla dealerships throughout the U.S. Saturday in the latest attempt to dent the fortune of the world's richest man. The protesters are trying to escalate a movement targeting Tesla dealerships and vehicles in opposition to Musk's role as the head of the newly created Department of of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, where he's gained access to sensitive data and shuttered entire agencies as he attempts to slash government spending. Most of Musk's estimated $340 billion fortune consists of the stock he holds in the electric vehicle company that he continues to run while also working alongside Trump. Earlier protests have been somewhat sporadic. Saturday marked the first attempt to surround all 277 of the automaker's showrooms and service centers in the U.S. in hopes of deepening a recent decline in the company's sales. By early afternoon, crowds ranging from a few dozen to hundreds of protesters had flocked to Tesla locations in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Minnesota and the automaker's home state of Texas. Pictures posted on social media accounts showed protesters brandishing signs such as 'Honk if you hate Elon' and 'Fight the billionaire broligarchy.' The Tesla Takedown movement also hoped to rally protestors at more than 230 Tesla locations in other parts of the world. Although the turnouts in Europe weren't as large as the crowds in the U.S., the anti-Musk sentiment was similar. About two dozen protesters held signs lambasting Musk outside a Tesla dealership in London as passing cars and trucks tooted horns in support. One of the signs displayed at the London protest showed a photo of Musk next to an image of Adolf Hitler making the Nazi salute — a gesture that Musk has been accused of reprising shortly after Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration. A person in a tyrannosaurus rex costume held another sign with a picture of Musk's straight-arm gesture that said, 'You thought the Nazis were extinct. Don't buy a Swasticar.' 'We just want to get loud, make noise, make people aware of the problems that we're facing,' said Cam Whitten, an American who showed up at the London protest. Tesla Takedown was organized by a group of supporters that included disillusioned owners of the automaker's vehicles, celebrities such as actor John Cusack, and at least one Democratic Party lawmaker, Rep. Jasmine Crockett from Dallas. 'I'm going to keep screaming in the halls of Congress. I just need you all to make sure you all keep screaming in the streets,' Crockett said during a Tesla Takedown organizing call held earlier this month. Some people opposed to Musk have gone beyond protests and set the automaker's vehicles on fire and committed other acts of vandalism that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has decried as domestic terrorism. Musk indicated he was dumbfounded by the attacks during a March 20 company meeting and said the vandals should "stop acting psycho.' Crockett and other Tesla Takedown supporters have been stressing the importance for Saturday's protests to remain peaceful. But police were investigating a fire that destroyed seven Tesla vehicles in northwestern Germany early Saturday morning. It was wasn't immediately clear if the blaze, which was extinguished by firefighters, was related to the Tesla Takedown protests. A growing number of consumers who bought Tesla vehicles before Musk took over DOGE have been looking to sell or trade in their cars while others have slapped on bumper stickers seeking to distance themselves from the billionaire's efforts to prune or shut down government agencies. But Musk didn't appear concerned about an extended slump in sales of new Tesla cars in his March 20 address to employees. He reassured the workers that the company's Model Y, which is undergoing a refresh, would remain 'the best-selling car on Earth again this year.' He also predicted Tesla will have sold more than 10 million cars worldwide by next year, up from about 7 million cars now. 'There are times when there are rocky moments, where there is stormy weather, but what I am here to tell you is that the future is incredibly bright and exciting,' Musk said. After Trump was elected last November, investors initially saw Musk's alliance with the president as a positive development for Tesla and its long-running efforts to launch a network of self-driving cars. That optimism helped lift Tesla's stock by 70% in the period between Trump's Nov. 5 election and his Jan. 20 inauguration, creating an additional $560 billion in shareholder wealth. But virtually all those gains have evaporated amid investor worries about the Tesla backlash, lagging sales in the U.S., Europe and China, and Musk spending time overseeing DOGE. 'This continues to be a moment of truth for Musk to navigate this brand tornado crisis moment and get onto the other side of this dark chapter for Tesla,' Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said in a research note leading up to Saturday's protests. ___ The Associated Press reporters Mustakim Hasnath contributed from London and Stefanie Dazio contributed from Germany.
