Amid declining EV sales, Tesla fires vice president of manufacturing

UPI

5 hours ago

A row of Teslas charge at a Tesla power station (2018). The company announced on Thursday that it sold fewer cars in 2024 than it did in 2023, the first time sales dropped since Tesla began mass producing EVs. Its profits fell 71% in the first quarter of 2025, too. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo
June 26 (UPI) -- Tesla CEO Elon Musk has fired the carmaker's vice president of manufacturing and operations following a falloff in auto sales in the nation's largest markets this year.
Omead Afshar oversaw more than a half dozen upper-level employees in the company, including Troy Jones, Tesla's vice president of sales in North America, and Joe Ward, vice president of the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
The firing was first reported by Bloomberg News.
Afshar is the second high-level employee to leave the company recently. His termination follows the resignation of Milan Kovac, who was the company's head of its Optimus humanoid robotics program.
Kovac said in a post on X that he was leaving Tesla to spend more time with his family. Musk later thanked Kovac publicly for his time with the company.
In 2022, Afshar was the subject of an internal investigation at Tesla that focused on his involvement in trying to secure construction materials for a secret project for Musk that included hard-to-get glass.
Prior to his job as Tesla vice president, Afshar worked for SpaceX, Musk's aerospace company. Afshar's X account, which had not been updated, said he still works for Tesla, and he praised Musk for his leadership and work ethic following the launch of the company's Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas.
"Thank you, Elon, for pushing us all," Afshar wrote.
Tesla's stock price has dropped 19% this year, and took an especially hard hit following Musk's association with President Donald Trump, who appointed Musk to oversee the Department of Government Efficiency.
DOGE took a broad and aggressive approach to eliminating federal employees, downsizing federal agencies and ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs at some of the nation's largest companies and universities.
The company sold fewer cars in 2024 than it did in 2023, the first time sales dropped since Tesla began mass producing EVs. Its profits fell 71% in the first quarter of 2025. European sales dropped 28%, and dropped for a fifth straight month in May.
The European Automobile Manufacturers Association said buyers are shifting to cheaper Chinese models.