There's a cult around Nikola Tesla, and I strongly suspect that he deserves credit for about half of what his cult following claims. He was a genius and also a crackpot. He made some discoveries that changed the world, including alternating current. He also made some claims that are just wacko. He's a fascinating man, but not the god some of his boosters would have us believe.
I think it was cool and appropriate to name an electric car company after him. But the name, and the man, had nothing to do with my buying my Tesla Roadster, though I was aware of the man long before the company existed. (He was a cult figure even then.) It was the amazingness of the car itself that prompted me to buy it, made possible by the vision of the founders and the brilliance and hard work of the engineers. (And, I gather, some technology leased from AC Propulsion.)