(Image: James Duncan Davidson/Twitter/@fligeti)

Elon Musk’s Tesla company is notorious for its fanatical fanbase. The electric car maker’s products — both vehicles and various novelty accessories — sell out almost as soon as they’re announced. Waitlists for their cars extend months, even years into the future. 

This cult-like following has helped make Tesla the most valuable car company in the world, despite producing significantly fewer cars than its competitors. Meanwhile its leader, Musk, also became the richest man in the world, promising that he could save the world.

But after a decade of forging a public persona as a Tony Stark-esque engineering genius split between Tesla, SpaceX and The Boring Company, in 2022 Elon Musk rebranded. This year, the centibillionaire dilettante focused on buying Twitter while taking an increasingly rightward turn in his politics. Last year, Tesla’s stock plummeted by 45%, with some high-profile investors pointing to Musk’s tumultuous Twitter takeover as the reason. 

So what do Tesla owners — and Musk megafans — invested in Musk (sometimes literally) think of his recent decisions? Online communities for the car’s Australian owners have closely followed and debated his actions over the past year. 

Jeffrey Easton is both a Tesla owner and a shareholder who has complicated feelings about Musk. On one hand, he is a satisfied owner who praises the benefits of electric cars and the vehicle in general. On the other hand, he says it’s “a little frustrating” to see the stock drop so heavily.

“I genuinely believed it was overvalued as a hype stock anyway, but Elon’s antics, large share sell downs and a purchase of Twitter have accelerated any free fall,” Easton told Crikey.

Easton also pointed out that Musk “isn’t the developer” of Tesla. He said he has faith in the company’s engineering team who have “many things they need to fix”, noting the car’s self-driving feature is not yet capable of driving on the left-hand side of the road or able to respond to Australian traffic lights.

“You live with the quirks knowing that one day they will iron them out,” he said. 

Fellow Tesla owner Matthew Bailes said to Crikey that he’s a bit embarrassed driving a Tesla in light of Musk’s shift in behaviour, though he described feeling an “amazing joy” when on the road. 

“I feel … a bit concerned about a company so influenced by someone who is clearly unable to tell the difference between owning a social media company and wanting to be the star of a social media platform,” he said.

Another owner, Dev Raga, said that the vibe around Tesla and Elon Musk has changed a lot in a short time.

“The optics of driving a Tesla now in 2022 is very different to the optics of driving one in 2019,” he said.