Tesla orders being cancelled because of Musk's behavior

A lot of potential Tesla buyers are bailing on their orders because of Elon Musk’s erratic behavior and right-wing trolling.

The last straw for Heather was Elon Musk's vitriolic attacks on Anthony Fauci, one of the world's most respected immunologists and the outgoing director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. For Logan, it was when Musk, days after taking over Twitter, ordered employees to stop paying bills to vendors for services they'd already rendered, CNET reports.

For Tom, Musk's corrosive and erratic leadership of Twitter since he bought the social media site at the end of October was just too much.

And when each of them called to cancel their Tesla car preorders or to terminate their car leases over the past few months, saying Musk's toxic behavior was the reason, they were told pretty much the same thing from the Tesla salesperson on the other end of the line: "We're hearing a lot of that."

For the past two months, Musk, 51, has been managing Twitter as its new owner and CEO, after paying $44 billion to buy the company. Now it seems the toll of his chaotic leadership style, while also splitting his time, is wearing on his other companies. The world's second-richest person is also CEO of electric car manufacturer Tesla and rocket maker SpaceX.

On Sunday, Musk initiated a poll asking users whether he should step down as CEO of Twitter. When the poll closed early Monday morning, 57 per cent of 17.5 million accounts that voted said he should go. Musk said he would abide by the vote, though as primary owner he'll still have a say in how the company's run. He hasn't said who he's considering to replace him.