TROY, Michigan — Tesla showrooms and owners have become targets across the United States as political activists protest Chairman Elon Musk’s work for the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.

Metro Detroit is not immune.

Showrooms here have been spared violent attacks like the firebombing of a Las Vegas showroom that destroyed three vehicles, but they have been the focus of organized protests and owners have been harassed. Politics and the auto industry have long intersected — including controversial taxpayer bailouts for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp. in 2009 and recent $7,500 taxpayer subsidies for well-to-do EV buyers.

Protests and boycotts have followed, but violence against dealers and owners is a new wrinkle. The Detroit News visited showrooms in the metro area over the last week where foot traffic was brisk. Interest in Tesla products appeared healthy, but customers were aware of the threats and harassment that have become an unfortunate part of the shopping experience.

“F--- Elon! “You are f------ pigs!” yelled a passenger in a pickup truck as it drove past a line of Tesla test vehicles in Somerset Mall’s parking garage.

Christina Bentley, 44, of Macomb Township took a test ride with her family in a Model 3 and was undeterred by the anti-Tesla campaign. “Not a problem for us — 100%,” she said. “I feel all this is transitory. It’s the Democrats’ cause du jour and they’ll be mad about something else in a few months.”

Like the Bentleys, many customers brought their children who seemed as intent on jumping in the driver’s seat as their licensed parents. At Tesla’s West Bloomfield dealership, a small child led her mother by the hand from Model 3 to Cybertruck pointing out the vehicles’ different features from cupholders to big screens.

“My son loves Teslas,” said Bentley at Somerset. “We’re totally sold on the features and the safety is great. This will be his car when he turns 16.”

Tesla’s showroom inside Somerset is on private property and therefore spared protests on its doorstep. But protesters have regularly gathered outside the mall located on Big Beaver Road in Troy — as they have at Tesla’s larger, stand-alone West Bloomfield and Ann Arbor service centers.

Tesla declined comment to The News, but the protests appear organized and occur regularly each week. International protests reached a crescendo on March 30 with a "Global Day of Action" targeting more than 500 Tesla locations worldwide.

While there have been no reports of violence against Michigan showrooms, there have been individual incidents targeting owners.

In Kentwood outside Grand Rapids last month, police reported five Tesla Cybertrucks were vandalized in the Woodland Mall parking lot with spray painted messages like "Nazis always lose.”

The Michigan Tesla Owner’s Group Facebook page is busy with chatter about how to deal with vandals — from capturing footage on Tesla’s Sentry Mode camera system to removing Tesla badges from their cars.

"It seems Tesla vehicles have always been targets, but not to this extent,” said Scott Pokriefka, president of the Tesla Owners Club of Michigan. “I haven't experienced any negativity during my driving, including a recent trip to Chattanooga. It's unfortunate that these issues unfolded in Kentwood. I will still drive my Tesla."

The intimidation campaign is undeniably having an effect. Most customers The News approached outside showrooms declined to give their names for fear of reprisal.

While it’s difficult to determine cause-and-effect, violent incidents have coincided with a decline in Tesla sales. Tesla’s Q1 deliveries have dropped 13% compared to a year ago and its stock price has dropped 42%.

Other factors could include political resistance to Musk’s alliance with Trump as well as a production changeover to the new Model Y SUV — Tesla’s most popular vehicle and the third best-selling non-pickup in the United States. High-profile figures like 2024 Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Tim Walz and comedian Jimmy Kimmel have cheered the company’s market decline.

CJ of Detroit (name withheld for fear of retaliation) and his wife have enjoyed their Tesla Model 3 for three years, but are trading it in for a Rivian electric vehicle. They don’t want to live with the threat of getting their car keyed or having to run the gauntlet of protesters at their service center — or worse.

In Vancouver last week a pregnant woman was injured after a large rock smashed through the window of the Tesla she was riding in. Police are investigating.

In the United States this year there have been over 50 attacks against service centers and Tesla charging stations, including the Las Vegas incident; four Tesla Cybertrucks set ablaze in a Seattle Tesla lot; and eight Molotov cocktails launched at a Tesla showroom in Oregon damaging several vehicles.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department is treating such events as "domestic terrorism,” and Musk has also denounced the attacks as "wide-scale domestic terrorism."

Outside the Somerset showroom, shopper Gage Stebien, 23, of Royal Oak said the attacks did not deter him from considering a Tesla.

“It’s amazing the flashpoint Tesla has become,” he said. “You used to be a hippie for buying one, and now you’re a member of the establishment. It’s weird.”

For years, Tesla was prohibited from selling cars in Michigan.

In 2014, Republican Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law a bill prohibiting auto manufacturers like Tesla from selling directly to consumers as a violation of state franchise laws that only allow vehicles to be sold through third-party dealerships. Tesla customers had to go to Illinois or Ohio service centers to purchase a Tesla, and the company sued the state of Michigan in 2016.

In 2020, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration settled with Tesla, greenlighting showrooms in Michigan. Whitmer, who wants 100% of Michigan auto sales to be electric by 2040, cheered Tesla’s "stated mission of accelerating the world's transition to electric vehicles for the good of the environment."

The first Michigan Tesla service center opened in May 2020, and Tesla’s footprint has grown to five showrooms/service centers across the state. The company must still operate under certain restrictions.

Models sold here must be titled in another state and then transferred to Michigan. And to shop a used Tesla from a company service center, buyers must still leave for another state.

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