In retrospect, maybe the news that Tesla had been putting money into an area it had historically avoided — namely, advertising — was a clue that all was not well in Elon Musk’s EV empire. Over the weekend, ominous news clung to Tesla like mud to a Cybertruck that’s been off-roading.
The first piece of news came from Investors Business Daily, which cited “social media chatter” to the effect that Tesla had temporarily paused deliveries of its Cybertruck. The rumored issue had to do with the vehicle’s accelerator — something that’s pretty high on the list of things you need to work without question on any vehicle. Unfortunately for the automaker, that wasn’t the only piece of bad news on the horizon.
On Monday morning, Reuters reported that Tesla planned to lay off over 10% of its workforce globally. Two high-ranking executives — Drew Baglino and Rohan Patel, responsible for battery development and business development, respectively — have also announced that they’ve left Tesla, as per Reuters.
Musk responded to Baglino’s departure on social media, writing, “Thanks for everything you’ve done for Tesla. Few have contributed as much as you.”
Tesla Is Changing Gears on its No-Advertising Strategy
The automaker has historically focused on word of mouth salesOne analyst cited in Reuters’s reporting, Craig Irwin of Roth Capital, addressed a broader takeaway from the company’s latest move. “Layoffs imply management expects weak demand to persist,” Irwin told Reuters.
When it comes to EVs, Tesla is far from the only option available — and while demand for EVs is up in the U.S., it’s still a much smaller piece of the overall automotive market here. That the future of a planned $25,000 EV from Tesla is ambiguous is another mixed signal from the automaker. It may leave you wondering how many of the issues facing Tesla right now could have been preventable.
More Like This
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
