Embarrassed or nervous owners of Tesla vehicles have been caught disguising their cars and Cybertrucks as Mazdas and pickup trucks. Photos of these attempts to fool or placate Elon Musk critics began appearing across social media platforms in February 2025.
Owners of the electric sedan have attached Mazda or Honda logos and even embossed lettering to their Teslas and Cybertruck owners have taken it a step further. Whether this is out of protest, shame, or fear of vandalism, many social media users are finding the trend comical.
The Honda Civic Model S
On March 3, 2025, the Instagram accounts for left-wing news outlet COURIER alongside MeidasTouch and NowThis Impact posted a photo compilation of Teslas not-so-cleverly disguised as Mazdas, Hondas, and Audis. Owners slapped logos or model titles on the rears of cars otherwise pretty recognizable as Tesla vehicles to those who know what to look for.
According to COURIER, “Tesla owners across the country are rebranding their cars in protest again Elon Musk’s role inside (leading?) the Trump administration.” While this may be the motivation for the disguises, many commenters feel that a better way to protest would be to sell or exchange these vehicles for something else.
A little cosmetic chicanery doesn’t seem like enough effort to make up for financially supporting Musk in the first place, after all.
“That’s like putting makeup on a pig,” wrote one Instagram commenter. “You still own and drive a Tesla.”
“A bigger protest would be for owners to trade the Tesla’s in for a Toyota, Honda, Mazda, etc,” said another.
On Reddit, u/L0veToReddit jokingly posted a photo of a “2026 Mazda CX-5″—actually a Tesla Model Y with a Mazda badge on the back.
New 2026 cx-5 spotted
byu/L0veToReddit inCX5
The Toyota Cybertruck
The above are not the lowest effort attempts at disguising a Tesla vehicle, however. On Feb. 21, Reddit user u/Sponsorspew posted a photo of a Cybertruck with the word “Toyota” slapped onto the rear.
This one seems like a clear attempt to communicate the owner experiencing buyer’s remorse because they’re definitely not fooling anyone.
“‘How do you do, fellow trucks?’” u/youdiejoe joked in the comments.
“Maybe he’s hoping writing the name of a more reliable company on it will have some kind of osmosis effect and keep the panels from falling off in a stiff breeze,” u/Khaldara theorized.
Other Cybertruck owners have put a lot more effort into passing off their vehicles as another brand, perhaps fearing becoming the latest victims of the tagging trend. On March 4, Bluesky user @wattasecond.bsky.social posted two photos of Cybertrucks with realistic paintings of pickup trucks on at least the sides, and also the back on the blue one.
These attempts are more understandable considering the Cybertruck’s association with Elon Musk, whose stiff-armed “salute” at President Donald Trump’s inauguration was met with swift backlash. Not only were there seven recalls for the truck in a single year, but the vehicle has recently become a vandalism target, with reports of Cybertrucks being covered in eggs and dog feces, damaged and run out of a New Orleans Mardi Gras parade, and having anti-Musk messages projected on them by a group of TikTokers calling themselves ‘Cybertruck hunters.’
They’ve also inspired Cybertruck memes and jokes.
“*attenborough voice* sensing that its entire ecosystem has turned against it, the cybertruck resorts to extreme mutations in its desperate struggle to survive,” wrote user @niedermeyer.online.
Don’t forget the Starship Troopers reference.
Tesla vehicles bear the brunt of anti-Musk sentiment
Following Musk’s actions as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), angry U.S. residents are taking out their frustrations on anything branded as a Tesla. Cybertrucks in particular have become spray paint magnets, which is not what you want when you spent six figures on something now hard enough to sell as it is.
Photos of these trucks tagged with genitalia, swastikas, or profanity have proliferated online, along with videos of daring individuals doing the deed. This was becoming a trend even before the 2024 election, like when someone tagged dozens of Cybertrucks in a lot with the words “f*ck elon” in June.
In 2025, according to Nasdaq, Tesla sales are plummeting hard around the world. In Germany, January numbers dropped by 59 percent compared to the previous year. The average drop across all nations was 47.5 percent. In California, which hosts the biggest electric vehicle market in the U.S., it was 36 percent.
Tesla’s stock price has been on a downward trend since mid to late January.
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