{"id":652233,"date":"2026-05-06T01:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T01:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/652233\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T01:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T01:05:12","slug":"chery-car-dealership-run-by-married-at-first-sight-mafs-contestant-james-susler-firebombed-in-port-melbourne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/652233\/","title":{"rendered":"Chery car dealership run by Married At First Sight (MAFS) contestant James Susler firebombed in Port Melbourne"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Angus<\/p>\n

Updated May 6, 2026 \u2014 10:13am,first published May 6, 2026 \u2014 8:39am<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

AAA<\/p>\n

A Melbourne car dealership managed by a former Married At First Sight star was firebombed early Wednesday morning, becoming the latest victim in near daily arson attacks in the city.<\/p>\n

Two men smashed open the front of the Chery car dealership on Plummer Street, Port Melbourne, about 4.40am and set fire to a vehicle inside, before fleeing.<\/p>\n

Firefighters arrived at the business about 4.50am and found the showroom filled with smoke. Thirty firefighters, including an aerial unit, worked to extinguish the blaze by 5.23am.<\/p>\n

\"SomeSome 30 firefighters responded to the suspicious, early morning fire. Jason South<\/p>\n

The Port Philip Crime Investigation Unit is investigating the fire, which has been deemed suspicious. Nobody was injured in the attack.<\/p>\n

The dealership is owned by James Susler, an entrepreneur and contestant on Season 8 of Married At First Sight, according to Susler\u2019s LinkedIn and Instagram. The dealership opened just five days ago.<\/p>\n

Susler told reporters at the scene that he was unaware why the dealership would be targeted.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the best, ideal situation … we will get bigger and stronger,\u201d he told Nine News.<\/p>\n

Victoria Police confirmed its Operation Eclipse taskforce was not yet probing whether this attack was linked to a series of firebombings and attempted arson attacks at Melbourne nightlife venues orchestrated by organised crime gang \u201cthe Cartel<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

The dealership had received no threats beforehand and a security guard hired to protect the business had witnessed the attack.<\/p>\n

Hospitality venues targeted by the Cartel have received messages warning the attacks were designed to take their businesses, families and \u201csouls\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Chery dealership, owned by a former reality-TV contestant, had opened only five days ago. Nine News<\/p>\n

Arrests made by Victoria Police so far have largely consisted of teenage boys who were allegedly paid a small fee to carry out the attacks on behalf of the gang.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Melbourne nightclub La Di Da was targeted in an early morning arson attack, and the Bodyline brothel in Yarraville was subjected to a drive-by shooting.<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

\"AngusAngus Delaney<\/a> is a reporter at The Age. Email him at angus.delaney@theage.com.au or contact him securely on Signal at angusdelaney.31Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated May 6, 2026 \u2014 10:13am,first published May 6, 2026 \u2014 8:39am Save You have reached your maximum…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-652233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}