4 Teslas burned at dealership in Corte Madera

Four Tesla cars were scorched at a Marin County dealership on Labor Day, officials said.

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Fire crews were called to the dealership located in Corte Madera on Case Buena Drive just before 4:30 a.m. on Monday, where they found multiple Teslas on fire in the back parking lot, Brian Peterson, a battalion chief for the Central Marin Fire Department, told SFGATE. The fire started at one Tesla, with flames from the hood area, and then spread to the other Teslas, he said.

Crews were able to extinguish the blaze in approximately 15 minutes, and it did not spread to the main battery of any of the cars, according to Peterson. He did not respond to SFGATE’s additional questions about the fire, including the extent of the damage.

Video footage obtained by KGO-TV shows massive flames that appear to be coming from the front side of one of the cars, along with a large cloud of smoke. At least two of the Teslas have severe damage, and one seems to have been completely destroyed, according to the news outlet. 

Though investigators believe the fire was not accidental, Peterson told the Marin Independent Journal that authorities currently haven’t declared the blaze as an act of arson or suspected arson. He told SFGATE that investigators are still determining the cause of the fire and that anyone with information is urged to contact the Central Marin Police Authority at 415-927-5150. 

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Last year, Tesla cars across the Bay Area and state were targeted amid continuous protests against Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Some vandalism cases were even caught on camera, including a Tesla Cybertruck that was damaged in Novato in March 2025. That same month in San Jose, footage also captured a man suspected of keying a Tesla car in a Costco parking lot. 

Outside of California, Teslas have also been set on fire. In 2025, around 80 cars were damaged at a Tesla dealership in Canada, NBC News reported last year.