Wild footage captured the moment a man keyed a Tesla in a ritzy suburb.
The $55,000 electric vehicle had been left parked on the street outside the Rose Bay Hotel at Rose Bay, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, on Sunday.
An elderly man with white hair and a beard was seen walking around the corner of South Head Road and Dover Road.
The man, who was wearing a white t-shirt, dark cap, dark shorts and sandals, then looked around left and right before making his way to the car.
After a final glance around, the man then used the key in his hand to scratch the very expensive vehicle.
But unknown to the man, the entire thing was caught on Tesla’s Sentry video system and the footage was posted to social media platform X by the owner’s son.
‘Police will find him soon,’ he wrote.
The video has been viewed 85,000 times with social media users blasting the man.
‘This is atrocious. I hope they find him soon,’ a commenter replied.
‘It’s a clear pic … The police / public should be able to identify him in a few hours,’ another wrote.
A third said they couldn’t ‘believe the audacity of that (man). Some on this earth are just plain miserable and spiteful.’
A NSW Police spokeswoman told Daily Mail an ‘investigation was ongoing’.
‘Officers attached to Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command commenced an investigation after a vehicle was keyed whilst parked on Dover Street, Rose Bay, about 9.40am on Sunday 22 December 2024,’ she said.
The latest incident of a Tesla being damaged by older people follows a case in which a woman vandalised a car in Melbourne in October.
Coles safety advisor Ibrahim Can had parked his Tesla at a shopping centre in the northern suburb of Epping, but when he returned he found a ‘deep’ scratch stretching from the passenger door to the left of the bumper.
He checked the car’s Sentry security camera, which showed a woman holding a green bag and dragging a key along the side of the vehicle.
‘I reviewed the footage and realised an elderly lady has keyed my car,’ Mr Can wrote on a Facebook post.
Social media users questioned why Teslas were being targeted.
‘What’s with all the hate for Teslas in ? These videos get posted weekly. What a shame,’ a commenter said.
‘What the f*** is wrong with all these old people keying cars for no reason? Like every car needs to have these cameras built in now,’ another wrote.
‘This type of behaviour is increasing and far too common here in . Have we lost our capacity to respect others like we used to,’ another added.
Some attributed the disrespect to age.
‘It’s always boomers? You already won every lottery in life, there’s more to harm?’ one asked.
‘I agree. It’s disgusting. Never ever young people. Always boomers,’ another said.
‘Perhaps Tesla is a symbol of a new generation of vehicles. They are jealous that the younger generations can do better,’ one man hypothesised.
But another wrote ‘she doesn’t look like she has won any lotteries and it’s simple envy on her part, which has nothing to do with age demographic’.