European carmakers are urging Brussels to ease regulations to help them avoid buying carbon credits from rivals at increasingly high prices.

A Polish government minister called for a boycott of Tesla Inc. vehicles after billionaire Elon Musk said there was “too much focus on past guilt” in an apparent reference to Germany’s wartime atrocities under the Nazis.

Motorists have been told to boycott Tesla by the Polish sports minister in response to CEO Elon Musk's comments at a far-right German political rally that Germans should move beyond their "past guilt" over Nazi atrocities.

It’s all kicking off. Elon Musk’s very dodgy gesture at Trump’s inauguration has sparked outrage, with many saying it looked like a Nazi salute. Activists projected “Heil Tesla” onto his

The automaker saw sales of its EVs drop 13% in the European Union in 2024, and is facing growing pressure as rivals launch a wave of cheaper EVs.

The British campaign group Led By Donkeys has claimed responsibility for the stunt that authorities say may have breached German laws on the use of symbols linked to illegal organizations.

In the early 2000s, the complaints were similar...We missed that underneath the surface many things were changing,” says Jens Ulbrich, chief economist at the Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank. Back then,

There is no justification for any reasonable Pole to continue purchasing Teslas,” says minister Sławomir Nitras.

"For Germany, somebody outside of Germany endorsing right-wing political parties is a big thing," Lohscheller said. A survey of Tesla owners in the Netherlands showed around one-third were considering selling their car, with Musk one of the main reasons.

The display, created by activist groups Led By Donkeys and the Centre for Political Beauty, has drawn public attention and is under investigation by local police.

Poland's sports minister has said that the recent statements made by Elon Musk, the founder of US car manufacturer Tesla, should face strong condemnation and even a boycott of his company by all Poles due to his recent call on Germans to leave behind their Nazi past.

The sector, hit by factory closures and job cuts, including 54,000 job losses among auto suppliers last year, also needs to confront economic threats such as U.S. trade tariffs and a reliance on China for critical minerals and batteries.