With its focus on clean and autonomous driving and all the recent developments focused around those points, Tesla Motors has dominated the news headlines in recent months and been building a sizeable and passionate fan base.
But one man who has taken exception to all of this is former General Motors executive Bob Lutz, who has publicly criticised Tesla, its CEO Elon Musk and supporters of the electric car brand.
Speaking in a recent interview with American news channel CNBC, Lutz compared fans of Tesla to cultists and compared the hype surrounding Musk to the following which surrounded the late Apple founder Steve Jobs.
'Elon hasn't delivered a thing'
Lutz said: “Tesla supporters are like members of a religious cult. Just like Steve Jobs was worshiped at Apple, it's the same way with Elon Musk, who is seen as a new visionary god who promises this phantasmagorical future, a utopia of profitability and volume.
But Lutz added: “The only problem is, Steve Jobs delivered and Elon, God bless him, hasn't delivered a thing, except increasingly negative cash flow, and an increasing lack of profitability; more and more capital spending.
“I just don't see anything about Tesla that gives me any confidence that that business can survive. The last time I checked, [Tesla's] quarterly cash burn is about $250 million. For a company that size, that's horrific.”
Dear cult members, I love you https://t.co/1OzRaSQzhT
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2016
Tesla announces third-quarter profit
Tesla chief Elon Musk responded in kind to Lutz's comments with a typically humourous tweet, stating simply: "Dear cult members, I love you".
It’s true that there have not been many reports of profit from Tesla, as the company navigates its way through expensive acquisitions or big projects like the upcoming Model 3.
However, it has very recently emerged that the company did in fact make a profit in the third-quarter of this year, and the company’s car sales in the US last month were more than double compared to September 2015.