But last year, as Tesla boss Elon Musk shared right-wing conspiracy theories on Twitter, posted a picture of guns by his bedside, and proposed terms to resolve the war in Ukraine that were adamantly rejected by many of the country's top leaders, Anne Marie's satisfaction gave way to shame.
"It's been very depressing, and sometimes embarrassing to be driving this car around," says Anne Marie, a former journalist who lives in Connecticut and wrote an article about her discomfort. "I wondered if people were making a judgement about me that I wasn't looking for."
Once hailed as the secret to Tesla's success, Elon Musk now appears to be one of its biggest problems, as his steady stream of politically charged social media posts alienates key parts of Tesla's customer base, just as increased competition starts to eat away at the firm's dominance of the electric car market.
The value of Tesla shares plunged by roughly two-thirds last year - the biggest decline since the company went public in 2010 - reflecting the worries, as well as concerns about disruptions to production and the effect of high borrowing costs and a weaker economy on demand.
Elon Musk appeared in a San Francisco court this week for a legal case sparked by one of his tweets
One - about considering taking Tesla private in 2018 - sparked fraud accusations from regulators, which the firm and Mr Musk each paid $20m to settle. He was in court again this week defending the post in a class-action suit brought by shareholders who said they lost money in the share price gyrations that followed its publication.
Another - calling a man involved in the rescue of Thai schoolboys a "pedo guy" - led to a defamation case, which Mr Musk won, after saying he did not think the insult would be taken seriously.
Now, though, Mr Musk isn't just another person tweeting; he is the owner of the platform.
That has raised the prospect of his political views, which he shares with increasing frequency, affecting how Twitter moderates the content on its site - a matter described by many, including Mr Musk, as important to American democracy.
After taking over, Mr Musk moved quickly to remove the ban on former US President Donald Trump, also issuing a tweet that read: "My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci" - referring to Dr Anthony Fauci, the public face of the US Covid-19 response - causing outrage among liberals, who are the most likely to buy electric cars in the US,Tesla's biggest market.
"This is largely a political story," says Jordan Marlatt, tech analyst at Morning Consult, which tracks public perception of thousands of brands in the US, and has seen a sharp decline in favourability towards Tesla among Democrats since April, when Mr Musk first announced the Twitter deal.
"He's been a lot more outspoken on his personal politics than he has before and that's bleeding over to consumer sentiment."
Mr Marlatt says brands typically recover from damage stemming from politically charged incidents within 90 days.
"What's different for Twitter and for Tesla is that steady drumbeat," he says. "It's every day, almost every hour sometimes."
Anne Marie, who has voted for both Democrats and Republicans, says prior controversies felt like one-off events, but the flood of commentary last year wore her down.
"Elon Musk being a bit of a wild card is not new," she says. "What was different was this level of consistency in doing it every day and the fact that he was really going after social issues with the seeming intent of riling people up."
She says at the moment she can't imagine buying a Tesla the next time she needs a car.
"At the end of the day, there's a lot of variety to choose from - are you going to really align yourself with a company that maybe doesn't represent your values anymore? I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it."