Tesla faced a wave of protests across dozens of its stores in North America this weekend. With sales declining and the board selling, it appears that some insiders are finally waking up. Last week, a grassroots movement organized protests against Elon Musk at Tesla stores around North America. The protests were largely peaceful, with demonstrations in front of Tesla stores. For example, a protest took place in front of Tesla’s Minneapolis store. Similar protests occurred at dozens of Tesla stores, aiming to disrupt sales and protest Musk’s political involvement. One of the largest protests happened at Tesla’s Manhattan showroom. While most protests were peaceful, some vandalism occurred, with Tesla stores being graffitied with anti-fascism phrases. Groups supporting the protests, such as Anonymous, plan to continue putting pressure on Tesla to, in turn, pressure Musk. Tesla’s sales this year are crashing in Europe, where monthly data is released. In the US, it’s harder to gauge the impact of the negative perception of its CEO, but these protests are unprecedented. Tesla’s board of directors, which has authority over the CEO, has been silent on the situation, allowing Musk to spend little time at Tesla while running other companies. However, there seems to be some pushback among Tesla insiders. The Washington Post obtained a recording from a recent staff meeting where employees and senior managers expressed concerns about Musk damaging the company’s business and sustainability mission. Some senior managers believe the company would be better off if Musk resigned. Most discussions of discomfort with the CEO happen quietly over lunch or in private messages, with employees fearing the company could be monitoring for signs of disloyalty. Tesla regularly implements waves of layoffs, and Musk has been using them to consolidate power and keep only loyalists among his top ranks. — news from Electrek.co
