An entire fleet of 24 Tesla cars burned down in a fire at a Tesla store in the South of France last night.
The fire is currently under investigation.
The fire occurred in the early morning of November 13th in Pennes-Mirabeau, a town outside Marseille in southern France, according to local French newspapers.
At around 3 AM, a fire involving several Tesla vehicles was reported at the automaker’s local store (video via Gilles Petras on Facebook):
The local fire department responded with as many as 50 firefighters, who managed to get the fire under control within a few hours and prevented it from spreading to the building and vehicles in other parking lots.
However, it still resulted in 24 Tesla vehicles burning down.
Fire investigators are now looking into the source of the fire, and arson is being seriously considered.
It’s not the first large-scale fire at a Tesla store in France.
Earlier this year, at the height of anti-Tesla protests, a fire was set at Tesla’s store in Toulouse, resulting in a dozen Tesla vehicles being burned down.
Tesla’s sales in Europe have been declining for years, but the decline has been accelerating this year amid more competition and Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, becoming increasingly disliked.
Interestingly, the only European market where Tesla is doing well right now is France, thanks to new EV incentives.
Electrek’s Take
I know it’s not confirmed right now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we learn this was another instance of arson.
Stop setting Tesla vehicles on fire. It’s dangerous and dumb.
Now, this could be just a crazy arsonist, but if it were a group targeting Tesla for political reasons, it’s ridiculously ineffective.
If your goal is to hurt Tesla, let me introduce you to a novel concept called “insurance.” Tesla is simply going to collect insurance on these vehicles and produce more.
There are plenty of ways to protest Tesla peacefully.
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