The richest man in the world says and does what he wants. And often, it’s contentious and provocative.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has attacked U.S. election integrity, embraced white-supremacist propaganda and accused President Joe Biden of treason. He even smoked pot on Joe Rogan’s provocative podcast.

Today, the pioneering electric-car company Musk built in Silicon Valley — headquartered in Texas after he moved it from Palo Alto, California — is struggling. This month, Tesla posted its first drop in car deliveries in four years, and Musk told employees that more than 10% of them would be laid off. Two key executives promptly ran for the hills. The company’s stock price has been plunging, even before its Cybertrucks were recalled last week to fix their accelerator pedals.

How much blame does Musk deserve for Tesla’s troubles? Experts say the CEO’s behavior probably turns off some potential customers, but bigger problems are buffeting his company. And with other car makers rapidly broadening electric options, his divisive persona could inflict heavier damage down the line, they say.

“It didn’t make so much of a difference when Tesla was the best game in town for EVs,” said Jo-Ellen Pozner, a management professor at Santa Clara University’s Leavey business school. “But now that there are so many competitors not just in the U.S. but globally, it might become a liability.”

Tesla and Musk did not respond to requests for comment.

Musk’s polarizing presence at the top of Tesla is so unusual for a corporate leader that experts in business management grasp for comparisons: anti-Semitic fellow car-pioneer Henry Ford, perhaps, said AutoPacific chief analyst Ed Kim. Maybe billionaire casino magnate and Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, suggested Jennifer Chatman, a University of California-Berkeley Haas business school management professor.

However, Ford “didn’t make that kind of a central thing about who he is, whereas Elon Musk makes his politics very, very much at the forefront of his public persona,” Kim said. And Adelson, was “not nearly as outspoken as Elon Musk,” and “not as identifiable with a particular company,” Chatman said.

Daniel Ives, senior equity analyst at Wedbush Securities, said “Musk’s antics” have had a significant effect on U.S consumers’ car-buying behavior.

“There is no doubt in our view that Musk has been a negative swing factor for many consumers in their (electric vehicle) purchase decisions,” Ives said.

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