A dozen Teslas have been set alight in a suspected arson attack at a car dealership in France.

An investigation has been opened into the incident near the southern city of Toulouse, which left eight vehicles burned out and four badly damaged.

There is evidence that the blaze was “not at all accidental”, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Philippe Guyot, the mayor of Plaisance-du-Touch, told AFP that firefighters quickly determined that the cause of the blaze was criminal, adding that the dealership premises had not been targeted.

A number of anti-Tesla actions have occurred in Europe since Elon Musk’s rapprochement with Donald Trump, the US president, his backing of European far-Right parties and attacks on diversity.

In Germany, Left-wing activists projected a giant image of Mr Musk doing a gesture that has been likened to a Nazi salute alongside the word “heil” on to Tesla’s Berlin factory.

Germany’s Centre for Political Beauty and the UK group Led By Donkeys beamed a photo of Mr Musk with his arm outstretched, which he did at a Trump rally in January, onto the nine-metre-high building on Wednesday night.

They also projected the words “heil” and “boycott” alongside the Tesla logo, as if to read “heil Tesla” or “boycott Tesla”.

The activists projected a video showing Mr Musk’s tweets in support of Germany’s far-Right Alternative for Germany party.