“There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done,” said Elon Musk, in the email published by Electrek. “This will enable us to be lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase cycle.”
As part of the layoffs, Tesla senior vice president Drew Bagliano is said to be leaving the company, Bloomberg reports. Electrek noticed that the Tesla badge has vanished from Baglino’s profile on X (formerly Twitter), as it has from policy chair Rohan Patel. Baglino, who’s been at the company for over 18 years in several roles, is still listed as senior VP in charge of Tesla’s energy and powertrain division on LinkedIn.
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 and more affordable EVs made 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 15 9:35AM ET: This story has been updated to reflect reports that top Tesla executives Drew Baglino and Rohan Patel are leaving the company.
