Tesla needs to be “hardcore” about reducing headcount, Elon Musk emailed senior managers.
While it’s not as major a the company’s announcement to cut 10% of its global staff earlier this month, Tesla commenced another wave of layoffs this week, including two executives, according to a report by The Information.
This time around, the 500 employees losing their jobs are largely within the EV firm’s Supercharger division. Among the key departures is senior director Rebecca Tinucci, who joined Tesla in 2018 and directed its charging infrastructure efforts since 2020. Daniel Ho, who headed the new vehicles program, has also departed the company. Ho joined the company back in 2013 and was a program manager for the Model S as well as the Model 3 and Model Y, before heading up all new vehicle developments.
After former executive Rohan Patel left among the major wave of layoffs in mid-April, Tesla will reportedly now dissolve the public policy team he lead since January 2017. Development manager Drew Baglino also announced his departure at that time.
In an email to other senior staff, CEO Elon Musk said the company needs to remain “absolutely hard core” about reducing headcount and curbing costs in the wake of weakening sales, both within Tesla and the electric car market as a whole, as the industry faces headwinds courting a new wave of mainstream buyers away from internal combustion vehicles. The email, and that statement in particular, could be a warning shot to Tesla’s management to more aggressively drop staff, meaning we could see more and larger layoffs in the near future.
According to its quarterly earnings statement to shareholders, Tesla posted a 9% year-over-year drop in revenue and a 55% decreased operating income of $1.13 billion in Q1 2024. Quarterly production fell 2% overall from the first quarter of 2023, while deliveries dropped 9%, largely precipitated by a 10% decrease in Model 3/Y sales.
