Tesla's shareholders have offered a show of support for Elon Musk, rejecting a proposal to strip him of the chairman post, even after a string of issues at the electric car maker.

Tesla said the proposal to force Mr Musk to hand over the chairman post, leaving him as just the company's chief executive, was voted down by a "supermajority" of shareholders.

It had been put forward by Jing Zhao, who owns 12 Tesla shares, although the proposal was backed by shareholder advisory groups the Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis.

In the formal submission, Mr Zhao had argued it may be difficult for Mr Musk to hold the two posts "in this much more highly competitive and changing industry".

Further details about the number of shareholders who backed the resolution will be released at a later date.

For changes to be passed at Tesla, they need approval from two-thirds of investors. Mr Musk himself owns a 22pc stake in the business.

All three directors who were up for re-election at the meeting also received shareholder backing, winning "by a wide margin", Tesla said.