BBC News, Bristol
BBC Points West
Protesters have gathered outside Tesla showrooms to make a stand against the company’s billionaire owner, Elon Musk.
A group assembled opposite the car giant’s premises in Cribbs Causeway, Bristol, on Saturday to oppose Mr Musk’s recent prominence in US politics.
Holding signs urging people to boycott the company, the ‘Tesla Takedown’ protest is part of a global day of action mirroring demonstrations held in the US.
The BBC has approach Tesla for comment.
Protester Karl Scholz said he had been “losing sleep” over recent events in US politics.
“If we can just put one or two people off buying a Tesla today to help spread the message and get his stock to go down further and further, hopefully that will give Elon and other billionaires like him the pause to think twice about what they’re doing,” he added.
Critics of President Donald Trump’s second government have become increasingly vocal about their unease with Mr Musk’s growing influence over US politics, with the billionaire given the role of creating a cost-cutting taskforce in the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).
The department has so far fired or offered buyouts to about 100,000 federal employees, and has access to sensitive personal data relating to millions of Americans.
Many of the posters held up at the Bristol rally urged people to avoid buying from the company.
Tesla sales in Europe have fallen sharply in 2025. Across the continent, they were down 45% in January compared to the same month in 2024, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).
One of the protest’s organisers, Meghan Watson, said she and other Americans living in Bristol had decided to act as the group Americans for Action to “raise awareness” of what was happening in their home nation.
While Cribbs Causeway might feel a long way from the White House, she explained that taking part in a global day of action emphasised the “massive support” she’d seen for their cause, with people “really concerned” by Mr Musk’s actions.
“If we can protest people buying Teslas and supporting Tesla’s stock and things that affect his funds then we can actually really make a change in the damage he’s doing,” she said.
