Tesla blowback reaches New Orleans
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New Orleanians protest on March 14 in front of Tesla's location on Tchoupitoulas Street. Photo: Courtesy of Beth Davis
The national backlash against Elon Musk's new role in the Trump administration has reached New Orleans.
Why it matters: The global #TeslaTakedown protests are a grassroots outcry targeting Musk's flagship company.
The big picture: Residents protested recently at the Tesla location on Tchoupitoulas Street, and another group is planning to hold a rally this weekend at Lafayette Square in response to DOGE cuts and President Trump's executive orders.
- "People are really upset on the scale of 'the world's on fire,'" said Sue Mobley, an organizer for Saturday's Hands Off rally and a steering committee member for Indivisible NOLA.
- The goal, she said, is to give people an opportunity to talk about how the changes impact them personally, including immigration enforcement and cuts to education, weather forecasting, science grants, USAID and more.
- Similar events are planned in Baton Rouge and Lafayette.
Catch up quick: #TeslaTakedown protests have been bubbling up across the country since the start of Trump's second term.
- The protest movement has drawn the Trump administration's ire and cast Musk's signature brand into turmoil for his role in slashing the federal government.
- Musk's involvement has made some Tesla investors uneasy as the company's stock price has plummeted.
- Vandalism in several states led Attorney General Pam Bondi to threaten "severe consequences" for anyone involved. The FBI also created a task force to "crack down on violent Tesla attacks."
Case in point: New Orleans made headlines during Mardi Gras when some paradegoers booed five Cybertrucks in the Orpheus parade and threw beads at them.
- One of the drivers, Josh Hazel, told Fox host Laura Ingraham he filed a report with NOPD after he said his wife was hit in the head with large beads.
- New Orleans police released a photo and video of a person of interest in the case.
Between the lines: Hazel told Fox News on Saturday that the krewe invited the Cybertrucks to escort the parade marshals.
- Teslas have been in the parade the past five years at the krewe's request, he said. Orpheus leaders weren't immediately available Monday to confirm.
- Ingraham rode in Orpheus in 2019.
Zoom in: The #TeslaTakedown protests encourage Tesla owners to sell their vehicles.
- Tesla trade-ins nationally were at an all-time high in March, according to Edmunds data interpreted by CBS. And the trade-ins were not used toward buying new Teslas.
- The automaker's deliveries, a proxy for sales, fell on a yearly basis last year despite a record Q4, writes Axios' Ben German.
Yes, but: There's no way of knowing exactly how much of the sales slump is about Musk versus other headwinds — notably an aging lineup and rising competition.
What they're saying: "I think a great wrong is being done to the people of Tesla and to our customers," Musk told Fox News in an interview last week.
- Musk said people are "committing violence" against the company after being "fed propaganda by the far-left."
- He also said people funding the protests were "the real villains," even more so than the people committing the destructive acts.