When Deborah Wilson first bought her Tesla Model Y in 2022, she loved it.
A resident of Toronto’s Beaches neighbourhood and a busy mother of two, she found it nimble and fun to drive. Plus, it was an environmentally sound purchase and saved her money on gas at a time when every trip to the pump was pricey.
But since then, she’s become increasingly self-conscious driving it around town amid U.S. President Donald Trump‘s threat of annexation and close relationship with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has stirred up significant controversy of his own.
A proud Canadian whose patriotism has only grown stronger since Trump’s return to power, Wilson, 55, told the Star that she looks at her vehicle completely differently now.
“I feel like the consumer promise for Tesla has been corrupted and that leaves all Tesla drivers in a very difficult position,” she said. “It was one thing when the existential threat was very much within the borders of the U.S., but when he started making overtures towards Canada, then I started taking it personally.”
A group of Ottawa-based Tesla owners have taken things a step further, selling bumper stickers proclaiming that the owner bought the car “before Elon went crazy” and emblems that transform a car’s Tesla badge into a maple leaf.
The webstore’s owners say that they’ve sold some 200 bumper stickers and badge overlays since launching their online store — cheekily titled ”ByeElon” — earlier this month which seeks to help drivers “make a statement, all while keeping the incredible EV experience intact.”
Still, some are able to disentangle Musk’s actions and rhetoric from his product, even if they don’t approve of it.
In Markham, Angel Vera doesn’t feel all that different about his Model X than when he first bought it eight years ago.
An IT architect and computer enthusiast, he still admires the innovation and continues to be impressed by what he describes as the car’s “computer on wheels” charm. He’s been slightly more cautious and alert as he approaches chargers, but hasn’t noticed anyone treat him differently or look at him with ire or scorn because of the car he drives.
“I don’t associate the craziness that he’s doing with the company,” Vera, 45, said. “That’s none of my business.”
Though he initially rose to fame as a visionary entrepreneur, Musk has gone beyond donations and rally appearances over the last year; he is widely seen as a top adviser to Trump and is heading the so-called “Department of Governmental Efficiency” (DOGE), which has sought to dismantle broad swathes of the American federal government in opaque and sometimes legally questionable ways.
In addition, he displayed what has been widely interpreted to be a Nazi salute at a January inauguration event and just last week amplified a post on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that claimed that “public sector workers,” not Adolf Hitler, were responsible for the death of millions of Jewish people during the Holocaust. (Musk appears to have since deleted the repost.)
Despite Trump’s attempt to boost the brand on the White House lawn last week, Tesla stock has dipped dramatically, and several reports have noted that the value of used Tesla vehicles has declined significantly in recent months.
Beyond talking with their wallets, some Americans have taken to vandalizing or graffitiing Tesla dealerships, behaviour that United States Attorney General Pam Bondi said “is nothing short of domestic terrorism.”
North of the border, environmental activists vandalized a dealership in Montreal, while Calgary officials said earlier this month that a stolen Tesla was driven into the Bow River. In Hamilton police said that over 80 vehicles were damaged at a Tesla dealership Wednesday, some of which had punctured tires.
Earlier this week, Toronto’s city council moved to temporarily restrict new Tesla cars from registering in its Zero Emission Grant, which is meant to incentivize taxicab and limousine owners to get a zero-emission vehicle before 2030.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
While some seem content to continue driving as usual, others aren’t even bothering to stick with their cars and have already opted to buy EVs from other, less controversial brands.
Conrad Rygier ditched his Model 3 and bought a Kia EV6 in February. A real estate broker based in Etobicoke whose business depends, at least in part, on the strength of the Canadian economy, he said he couldn’t sit by and watch Musk and Trump wage economic war on Canada.
“I felt like I couldn’t stand behind that. I’m a person of principle and so I just couldn’t see myself driving in a vehicle produced by a person that I despise,” Rygier, 43, said. “I don’t want to be associated with that government.”
Though Rygier managed to get out of Tesla ownership relatively unscathed, he did have to deal with lowball offers from potential buyers convinced the market for them would dramatically crater in Canada. Now, he’s happy to be rid of the headache, he said.
Will Vera do the same? Unlikely.
“As long as the company still runs,” he said, he’ll keep his car. “I think it’s too early to say that his behaviour is affecting the company. Not until I see that, then I would be more concerned about what it (means) for the future of my car.”
Wilson, on the other hand, is considering swapping out her car and bought a bumper sticker that signals her disagreement with the company’s leader.
Though she hasn’t yet affixed it to the back of her car, she anticipates doing so soon to let others know that she doesn’t agree with Musk’s views.
“I do not want to be perceived as endorsing anything that’s happening in the U.S. right now,” she said. “I would like to believe that Canadians, being the sound-minded, open-hearted population that we are, that we definitely separate the car from the driver and don’t necessarily see the car as an indication that the driver is supportive of the Trump regime. However, I don’t blame people if they do.”
