The owner of an electric vehicle targeted by a vandal believes his car was mistaken for a Tesla. Video / Sebastian Jonsson
Two electric vehicles parked in Central Auckland suburbs have been vandalised with spray paint in what could be politically motivated protests.
CCTV footage captured a Jandal-wearing man spray-painting a Polestar parked in a Mt Eden driveway, leaving it undrivable due to paint on tail-lights and number plates.
An image shared on social media also showed a Tesla parked in Ponsonby received similar treatment.
Late-model electric vehicles in Central Auckland suburbs have been targeted by spray paint-wielding vandals in what could be politically-motivated protests.
Sebastian Jonsson told the Herald he woke on Monday morning to find spray paint all over his Polestar, which was parked in the driveway of his Mt Eden home.
CCTV footage from Sunday night shows a man wearing Jandals casually emerging from the darkness with a can of spray paint in one hand.
The man approaches the rear of the vehicle – which was only bought a month ago – and begins tagging its brake lights, number plate and emblem.
He walks away before coming back for more, spraying a wing mirror and two windows before a light at the home deters him and he strolls back into the darkness.
“It’s my wife’s car, she’s absolutely gutted,” Jonsson said.
He suspected the alleged vandal mistook the car for a Tesla and was trying to conduct a similar protest to those which have occurred overseas against Tesla’s controversial chief executive Elon Musk.
Musk has become United States President Donald Trump’s best-known backer and a conservative provocateur in his own right.
Sebastian Jonsson captured the vandal spray-painting his 1-month-old car on a CCTV camera.
Jonsson said the family car had been left undriveable due to the blue paint over its tail-lights and number plates.
He said he respected that some people had strong feelings about Musk, but the vandalism only hurts everyday people – not the US billionaire.
The man was “very calm” while he spray-painted the car, Jonsson said.
A police spokesperson confirmed officers were in the “very early stages” of inquiries into a complaint made regarding an incident in Mt Eden on Sunday night.
“We are still working through the complaint to establish exactly what has occurred,” police said.
Meanwhile, the outcome of another similar incident was shared to social media this morning, showing a white Tesla covered in pink paint.
The image, allegedly taken on Ponsonby Rd, shows the vehicle’s headlights, number plate, Tesla logo, and windscreen targeted with spray paint.
An image of a Tesla that was vandalised with spray-paint while parked on Ponsonby Rd was shared to social media this morning.
No report had been received about this incident and police encouraged the owner of the vehicle to get in contact.
Police could not comment on whether the two incidents were linked.
The incidents come after a woman allegedly lobbed Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership in Colorado, the US.
Court documents stated that over the course of 13 days starting on January 29, Lucy Grace Nelson made repeated trips to the Tesla car lot in Loveland, Colorado.
She once spray-painted “Nazi” in black under the dealership’s entrance sign. Another time, she came with four Smirnoff Ice bottles filled with petrol, flung them at electric vehicles parked around the dealership and watched as they burned.
She also allegedly used red spray paint to scribble a message on the car dealership’s entrance doors: “F*** Musk”. Nelson’s lawyer declined to comment on the case.
Vandals in Maryland also spray-painted “No Musk” onto a Tesla building, alongside a swastika-like symbol.
In February, a man brandishing an AR-style semiautomatic weapon fired at a Tesla storefront in Salem, Oregon.
Just a few weeks earlier, investigators say, the same man attacked the same dealership by throwing Molotov cocktails at Tesla vehicles and through the store window. He caused an estimated US$500,000 in damages, according to court documents.
