A customer who complained about the launch of the upcoming Tesla Model X SUV in a blog post has had his order for the soon-to-be-released car cancelled by the firm's chief executive, Elon Musk.
California-based venture capitalist Stewart Alsop published a scathing open letter titled: "Dear @ElonMusk: You should be ashamed of yourself", criticising how Tesla had handled the car's reveal event. In particular, he highlighted the $5,000 (£3,400) deposit he had placed only to wait around for hours for Musk to show up and then present an "amateur slide show".
Alsop concludes: "It would still be nice if you showed some class and apologized to the people who believe in this product."
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Instead, Musk took the extraordinary decision to personally cancel the blogger's pre-order.
The move prompted The Guardian to say that despite Musk's wealth bringing him the ability to fund private space ventures, electric-car companies and develop futuristic transportation methods such as the Hyperloop, the best perk of his money is "the ability to be unbelievably petty".
Alsop has taken to his blog again to write about a telephone conversation he had with Musk, saying he is "a little taken aback to be banned by Tesla".
He added: "When I wrote a blog post about my BMW X1 called 'My Car Makes Me Feel Stoopid', the CEO of BMW didn’t take the car back."
Musk's cool persona, wealth and involvement in exotic technologies such as the private space industry has led to some – including the Washington Post – to dub him a "real-life supervillain", a persona the man himself is keen to trade on.
The Model X was revealed in 2012, but deliveries have been tricky owing to supply chain issues. It is expected that most customers will receive their cars this year and Tesla will also reveal a new, more affordable electric saloon at next month's Geneva Motor Show.