Tesla Files Lawsuit Against Sweden!

Elon Musk is not a boy to stand by and watch while he’s getting pushed around. The relationship between Tesla and Sweden is turning into a storm.

On Monday, Tesla filed a lawsuit against the Swedish government through the Swedish Transport Agency. The reason for this action? According to Tesla, Scandinavian postal workers disrupted the delivery of license plates for the new vehicles manufactured by the Texas-based automaker in order to support the strike initiated by the company’s employees.

Elon Musk has made the refusal of unions in his factories a somewhat outdated rallying cry. The Swedish workers are demanding that the automaker sign a collective bargaining agreement, which most employees in Sweden already have, something Tesla categorically refuses. Tesla has no manufacturing plant in Sweden but operates several service centers. It surely thought that a few resistant Swedes wouldn’t harm its business. Huge mistake!

The small movement started by some outspoken employees has snowballed, and now an entire country is standing firm. The mobilization took on a completely different dimension when the few dissenters were joined by dockworkers at the Swedish ports of Malmö, Södertälje, Gothenburg, and Trelleborg, who are now refusing to unload the California manufacturer’s cars and thus preventing customers from receiving their precious vehicles. Following this, electricians announced that they would stop maintaining the 250 charging stations, and postal workers joined the protest, suspending their routes at Tesla offices! No postal workers, no mail, no mail, no license plates, no plates, no cars on the roads.

Last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk declared on X that it was “insane” that Swedish postal workers refuse to deliver the license plates for new vehicles. Tesla stated that it is suing “the Swedish state through the Swedish Transport Agency” because withholding license plates “is an illegal discriminatory attack directed against Tesla.”

Unexpectedly, Tesla won in the first instance. The Swedish postal agency announced that it received an injunction from the court confirming that Tesla can now directly collect the license plates from the manufacturer. A court decision that only added more fuel to the fire. In a message posted on social media on Sunday, November 29th, former Social Democrat Prime Minister Stefan Löfven announced that he would now boycott taxis from Elon Musk’s brand.

“Shame on you, Tesla, shame on you!” continues Stefan Löfven, a sign that Scandinavians will not back down.