BERLIN: Four Tesla cars were set on fire in Berlin, police said Friday, the latest attack on the brand after its owner Elon Musk backed the far-right AfD in recent German elections.

Police said a member of the public had reported the first burning Tesla in the early hours of the morning in the eastern district of Plaenterwald.

Around half an hour later a passerby saw another Tesla in flames in the western district of Steglitz.

That was quickly followed by two more vehicles being spotted on fire in a street only a few minutes’ walk away.

Several other cars next to the Teslas were also damaged.

The police said a “political motive cannot be excluded” for the fires.

The Tesla brand has faced a backlash in Germany after Musk vocally supported the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the recent general election.

He hosted AfD leader Alice Weidel on a livestream on his X social media platform and also used it to boost the party’s messaging.

Official figures showed that German sales of the brand were down over 76 percent year-on-year, even as the broader electric vehicle market registered a recovery.

In recent months there have been several other incidents targeting Teslas in Germany.

In early January two of the vehicles were set on fire in Berlin, with two more being set alight in February in Dresden.

Last month police said that they were probing suspected arson at a construction site in Berlin which was reportedly claimed by far-left activists as part of an anti-Tesla protest.