Tesla lays off ‘more than 10 percent’ of its workforce, loses top executives

“There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done,” said CEO Elon Musk in the email published by Electrek. In a later post on XMusk said that “about every 5 years, we need to reorganize and streamline the company for the next phase of growth.”

As part of the layoffs, Tesla senior vice president Drew Bagliano is also leaving, Bloomberg reports. (Baglino later confirmed the departure on X.) He has been at the company for over 18 years in several roles and was most recently in charge of Tesla’s energy and powertrain division. Electrek also noticed that the Tesla badge has vanished from the X account for the company’s head of policy, Rohan Patel.

Tesla has also reportedly abandoned its plans to produce an affordable Model 2 that would cost around $25,000 as it shifts to instead focus on a new robotaxi. This comes as the company faces mounting pressure from the one-two punch of waning demand for EVs and more affordable EVs being released by Chinese manufacturers. Last year, Tesla lost the title of world’s top maker of electric vehicles to China’s BYD, which produced 3.02 million EVs compared to Tesla’s 1.81 million.

Update April 15th, 9:35AM ET: This story has been updated to reflect reports that top Tesla executives Drew Baglino and Rohan Patel are leaving the company.

Update April 15th, 1:25PM ET: Story updated with Musk’s confirmation of layoffs and exec departures on X.