Elon Musk has been making some political endorsements and highly controversial comments of late that have set the customer base for Tesla on edge—especially the ones that associate their electric vehicle with being ‘green’. A lot of them are now beginning to question their loyalty towards Tesla, wondering if actions like Elon Musk’s are eroding the brand image with their demographics.

Mix up a good controversy, and there goes billionaire founder of Tesla Elon Musk, never one to hold back. With a penchant for making outrageous statements and behaving in bizarre ways, Musk recently made news by coming out in support of right-wing politics. A turn of events that begs the question: Might Musk’s political leanings actually be scaring off those very consumers who made Tesla such a huge success in the first place?

Tesla stands as the world’s leading electric car company. It was and is about protecting the environment; the mission has always been very clearly stated. Elon Musk, however, appears recently to have contradicted that mission. He expressed his open support for Donald Trump, who called climate change a “hoax.” Some people were shocked by this, particularly environmentalists.

This week, the German pharmacy chain Rossmann made headlines when it announced that it is not going to order additional Teslas as fleet cars. Why? Due to the support of Elon Musk for Trump. As stated by Raoul Roßmann, a company spokesman, the stance of Trump on climate change stands in polar opposition to Tesla’s mission of protecting the climate.

Musk’s political persuasions have been all the more apparent in the past few days. The South African-born entrepreneur has been making incendiary posts online, most recently over the far-right riots in the UK. In one post, he even went to the extent of saying, “civil war is inevitable.” This angered politicians across the political spectrum in the UK. He has also been tweeting with far-right figures, such as Tommy Robinson, thereby further fanning the flames.

Mr. Musk’s political views created a moral dilemma for some Tesla owners. Speaking anonymously, one senior television industry executive said he loved driving his Tesla, but no longer felt comfortable being associated with Mr. Musk’s views. He ordered a new Tesla, he said, but canceled the order, explaining that he did not want to be associated with a person holding such “horrific” views.

A different former customer of Tesla reached out to the company to express their disgust with Musk’s behavior. In an email seen by media, a customer wrote: “I believe Mr. Musk’s rhetoric has made the Tesla brand toxic to some, myself included.” The customer continued that they wouldn’t be renewing the lease on their Tesla vehicle once it expired and would take their business elsewhere.

Some Tesla owners have also resorted to online forums and discussion boards to debate whether Musk’s political views are hurting the brand. Frustrated owners created bumper stickers that read, “I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy,” in regard to the CEO’s antics.

It’s not unusual for CEOs to speak out on political issues these days,” said David Bach, a professor of strategy and political economy at IMD, a business school in Switzerland. But he thinks that Musk is an exceptional case. “In so many ways, Musk is a special case,” Bach said. “Usually, there is some alignment with the interests of the business, or employees or customers. Elon Musk doesn’t seem to be doing that.”

Tesla sold 23,000 cars here in the UK in the first half of this year, while social network X—formerly Twitter—is among the most popular with UK users. The UK market represents a small portion of Musk’s global business: an estimated 5% of Tesla sales and 8% of X users.

Of greater interest, perhaps, will be the more significant impact of Musk’s political stance in the US, where he has been even more vocal. Having endorsed Trump, Musk continued to express support for the Republican Party, pejoratively referring to the Democratic Party. Recently, he described Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for vice-president, as being “quite literally a communist.”

That support may be all the more surprising because Trump has spent years belittling electric cars—an product central to Tesla’s business. But he appeared to change his tune recently, perhaps due to Musk’s endorsement. In Ohio, for example, Trump’s running mate JD Vance criticized government subsidies for electric vehicles that directly benefit Tesla.

Michael Tesler, a political science professor at the University of California, Irvine, noted recent polling indeed showed Democrats were far more likely to disapprove of Musk than Republicans—a phenomenon that was ironic given that Republicans are less likely, all things considered, to buy electric cars.

Elon Musk’s political views and actions have shaken up his customer base at Tesla in the final analysis. Others continue defending him; some others are slowly losing interest. Moving forward, with Tesla holding its course, it is yet to be answered if Musk’s rhetoric will leave a permanent dent in reputation and sales.