Kia Norway has removed an Instagram post that mocked Tesla CEO Elon Musk after it sparked backlash from electric vehicle supporters on social media. In a comment to Norwegian media, a representative from Kia Norway explained that the South Korean automaker did not intend to offend with its post.

Kia Norway’s Post

The now-deleted Instagram post showed a Kia EV3 rear with a sticker reading, “I bought this after Elon went crazy.” Such stickers have become commonplace among Tesla owners who have become disappointed and disillusioned with CEO Elon Musk’s increasingly political nature, as well as his work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 

The post drew global attention but quickly unraveled as critics, including prominent Tesla advocates and Tesla employees, dubbed the post disappointing.

Tesla Fans and Employees Push Back

A number of Tesla advocates such as Sawyer Merritt, who has over 800,000 followers on X, described the Instagram post as a “Bad look.” Other Tesla fans joked that Tesla Norway could do the pettiest thing and cut off Kia’s Tesla Supercharger access since Musk was “crazy” anyway. Elon Musk himself reacted to the post on X, stating, “They really did that?”

Tesla Senior Staff Engineer Yun-Ta Tsai also weighed in on Kia’s “Crazy Elon” post, stating that Tesla never runs negative ads on other OEMs. “Many colleagues working hard to share our supercharging infrastructure to other OEM fleets — which indirectly help their customers. We never ran negative ads on other OEMs. It’s insane that how other OEMs spent more time on negative ads on us than helping their own customers,” the Tesla engineer wrote in a post on X.

Kia Norway Explains

Kia Norway Communications Manager Christian Lagaard, in a comment to ITavisen, explained that the Instagram ad was a joke. As per Lagaard, the post was simply an attempt at humor, which unfortunately missed the mark.

“We posted this post a few weeks ago and picked up on the ongoing trend on social media. This was only intended as humor between two competitors from our side. The goal was to show that there are other options for those of you looking for an electric car. The idea came from us here in Norway and was not initiated by Kia centrally. We understand that humor resonates differently in different countries. We did not intend to offend or offend anyone. To avoid confusion about this or to provoke anyone unnecessarily, we have chosen to take down the post,” the Kia Norway Communications Manager stated.

Tesla’s fortunes are on the rise in Ireland, with vehicle registrations climbing year-over-year during the first two months of 2025. Tesla was able to accomplish this despite facing a steep sales decline across several markets in Europe.

Tesla Ireland’s Results So Far

From January to February 2025, a total of 539 Teslas hit Irish roads, a 2.86% improvement from the 524 vehicles that were registered during the same period last year, as per data from MotorStats Ireland. Quite interestingly, Tesla Ireland’s momentum was driven largely by the reengineered Model 3, which comprised the majority of the electric vehicle maker’s sales in the country.

Over the first two months of 2025, Tesla Ireland saw 428 registrations for the reengineered Model 3, a 42.67% year-over-year improvement over the 300 that were registered in the same period last year. The Model Y accounted for the remaining 111 registrations.

The Model Y Classic Factor

Tesla Ireland’s results from January to February 2025 are quite interesting, since during this period, the electric vehicle maker was mostly focused on clearing out its inventory of Model Y classic units. This was likely the primary driver behind the Model Y’s year-over-year decline of 50.45% in Ireland from January to February 2025.

With this in mind, it would not be too farfetched to suggest that Tesla Ireland’s sales figures may become even more impressive in the coming months, as the new Model Y is introduced to the market.

UK Joins Ireland

Ireland isn’t alone in boosting Tesla’s numbers. The United Kingdom reported a 20% sales increase in February, with nearly 4,000 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles sold, as per data from The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Both markets stand in stark contrast to other European countries, where the company’s sales have taken a notable hit.

U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Tuesday that violence targeted against Tesla stores and vehicles would be classified as domestic terrorism.

Trump explained his point at the White House when he selected a Tesla that his staff would be using. 

Escalating Tesla Attacks

Amidst Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration and his overt political views, initiatives such as “Tesla Takedown” protests have become quite prolific. While some protests were generally peaceful and only involved groups of people holding demonstrations outside Tesla stores, some anti-Tesla/Musk individuals have evidently crossed the line.

This has resulted in numerous Tesla stores across the United States, and even abroad, being subjected to arson. A Supercharger station, which is valuable even for non-Tesla EV owners, was also set on fire. The Tesla Salem store was actually attacked by Molotov cocktails. Widespread vandalism incidents against Teslas have been reported, and a Cybertruck owner recently noted on social media that an anti-Tesla/Musk protester ended up physically hurting a passenger while his vehicle was being attacked.

Trump’s Warning

Trump was very direct in his warning to those who attack Tesla, though he also emphasized that he is all for protecting American companies like the NFL. Following was Trump’s response to a reporter who asked about calls to label attacks against Tesla stores and vehicles as domestic terrorism.

“I will do that. I’ll do it. I’m gonna stop them. We catch anybody doing it. Because they’re harming a great American company. You know, I’ve stuck up for the NFL. I’ve stuck up for a lot of American companies… I did a very big favor for the NFL. I do favors for all of them.

“When you hurt an American company, especially a company like this that supplies so many jobs that others are unable to do. When you do that, those people are gonna go through a big problem when we catch them. We have a lot of cameras up. We already know who some of them are, and we’re gonna catch them.

“And they’re bad guys. They’re the same guys that screw around with our schools and universities, the same garbage. Now we’re gonna catch them. And let me tell you, you do it to Tesla and you do it to any company, we’re gonna catch you, and you’re gonna go through hell,” Trump noted. 

Not Going to Stop

In response to the U.S. President’s comments, a group claiming to organize the “Tesla Takedown” protests insisted on social media platform Bluesky that its actions have been peaceful, as noted in a Reuters report. The group also hinted that would not be scaling back its efforts against Tesla.

“Peaceful protest on public property is not domestic terrorism. They are trying to intimidate us. We will not let them succeed,” the group noted.