Recent antics of divisive billionaire Elon Musk has seen some Tesla drivers question their loyalty to the brand, claiming they're increasingly experiencing contempt from non-electric vehicle drivers.
Vandalism and road rage are said to have occurred on Australian roads while photos online show drivers in the United States covering Tesla bonnet badges.
In a discussion group for Tesla owners, one driver said he was copping a lot of hate, a phenomenon he put partly down to Mr Musk.
"I've never owned a car that has had this much vitriol associated with it," he said. "It's unbelievable."
Another said she would think twice about purchasing a Tesla again.
"Call me shallow and woke but I don't know how to reconcile the socially backward brand that Tesla is becoming with its exceptional engineering," she said.
"I love driving my Tesla, but at this rate I don't think my next car is going to be one."
Tesla Owners Club ACT representative Ross Hetherington said he was aware of some prospective buyers questioning their decision to stick with their order.
Mr Hetherington said, on the whole, the feeling amongst Canberra club members was a sense of pride in owning the top environmentally friendly car on the market.
"I think the best phrase to use for the discussion would be white noise," he said.
"Elon is creating a lot of waves and that white noise is there. By and large, most people still are interested in buying a Tesla."
I gave back my Tesla.
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) November 26, 2022
I bought the VW ev.
I love it.
I’m not sure how advertisers can buy space on Twitter. Publicly traded company’s products being pushed in alignment with hate and white supremacy doesn’t seem to be a winning business model.
Mr Hetherington said the feeling might be different amongst the club if there'd been reports of human rights abuse or sinister behaviour.
He said while some would say the Tesla CEO had gone "a bit strange in recent times" it wasn't affecting his affinity with Tesla or how he felt about Mr Musk
"Agnostic would probably be the word," he said. "I don't love him and I definitely don't hate him."
Melanie Gibbons, Canberra President of the International Association of Business Communicators said a CEO's reputation was intrinsically linked to an organisation's success and was one of its most valuable assets.
"Business leaders, especially of high profile companies like Tesla, have a corporate responsibility to manage their personal and professional profile appropriately," she said.
Ms Gibbons said negative public perceptions can have an adverse impact on a company's reputation, affecting customer loyalty, employee engagement and ultimately its value.
"Tesla has a strong brand but needs to be constantly monitoring internal and external perceptions and consider the long-term impact on the actions of Musk on the company," she said.
Mr Musk sold another $5.2 billion in Tesla stocks last week, his 13.4 per cent stake down from 17 per cent a year ago, according to Refinitiv data.
Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022
The world's second richest man also seemingly honoured his promise to resign from Twitter this week, after earlier asking users whether they thought he should.
Millions of people voted yes to sway the poll 57.5 per cent to 42.5 per cent in their favour, resulting in Mr Musk telling voters only certified Twitter Blue users would be permitted to vote in future polls.
Mr Musk has since tweeted he will resign as CEO to run the software and servers team when he finds someone "foolish enough" to take on the job.
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