‘Tesla Takedown’ protesters say they’re just getting started denouncing DOGE at dealerships

[ResidentialBusiness]

On February 15, protestors swarmed in front of Tesla stores and charging stations in dozens of cities across the U.S., armed with posters reading, “No one voted for Musk,” “Go steal data on Mars,” and more. Today, federal workers will head to Tesla stores—along with other locations, including a SpaceX site and federal buildings—to protest cuts to vital services and mass layoffs. More protests at Tesla will follow this weekend, all aimed at Musk’s work to control swaths of the government with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

It’s one way to target Elon Musk where he’s most vulnerable: Tesla’s car sales are dropping, and his political work is pushing consumers away from the brand. Meanwhile, most of Musk’s wealth is tied up in Tesla stock.

“We need to hold Elon Musk accountable,” says Saqib Bhatti, cofounder and executive director of the Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE), a nonprofit that is helping support the national protests. “We think if Musk is going to wreak havoc on our communities, then he can’t expect business as usual in showrooms.”

People participate in a “Tesla Takedown” protest against Elon Musk outside a Tesla showroom in Seattle, on February 15, 2025. [Photo: Jason Redmond/AFP/Getty Images]

DOGE, led by Musk, has helped push thousands of federal workers out of critical jobs, from the FDA and the CDC to the FAA. (The layoffs also included workers responsible for the country’s arsenal of nuclear weapons, though the government then scrambled to attempt to rehire them.) Musk also “deleted” the humanitarian agency USAID, stopping lifesaving medicine en route and abandoning aid workers in chaos. DOGE paralyzed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which has saved consumers roughly $21 billion since it was founded in 2011; the agency also had a plan to save consumers another $15 billion a year in overdraft fees. DOGE workers reportedly accessed sensitive taxpayer data at the Treasury Department, and the team now wants to get even more from the IRS. The list goes on.

All this work likely breaks multiple laws, and lawsuits are underway. But protestors say that citizens need to do more now. “I think it’s been disheartening to see the sense of resignation and despair from the people who are supposed to be leading the resistance—the Democrats in Congress,” says Bhatti. “We’re getting out there and saying, ‘Here’s what’s happening, here’s what this means, here’s what you can do about it.’ Because we know that people can fight back. We know from other countries that when people take on fascist, corporate takeover of the government, they can turn the tide back.”

A Tesla drives past protesters gathering in front of City Hall in Long Beach, California, on Monday, February 17, for the nationwide “Not My President’s Day” protest. [Photo: Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images]

On the website TeslaTakedown, citizens keep planning new demonstrations. For protesters, standing in front of Tesla stores is partly a way to bring more attention to the havoc that DOGE is wreaking in D.C. But if it meaningfully pushes Tesla sales down even further, it’s also a logical way to put more pressure on Musk.

Musk has already damaged Tesla’s brand—and the company’s EV sales were already dropping as other automakers keep rolling out new electric models, giving consumers have more options. In Norway, where Teslas have been incredibly popular in the past, sales dropped nearly 38% the past month. In Spain, they fell 75%. Even Tesla fans who run Tesla-focused websites have started selling off their own cars. Sales are slumping in California. And though Tesla stock shot up after the election, it’s down by a third since then. A Motley Fool analyst suggests that it could potentially drop by another 50%, or more.

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