Tesla to cut around 600 more jobs in California

Amidst decreasing sales and an intensifying price war, Tesla revealed its plan to lay off another 601 employees in California in a notice to the state government. The job cuts began a month ago and the automaker is on a roll to cut costs.

On April 15, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the carmaker would cut “more than 10 per cent” of its total workforce, more than 14,000 jobs, in order to be “lean, innovative and hungry”.

According to sources familiar with the matter, since Musk wanted to slash 20% of its headcount, the electric vehicle maker has since then, conducted several rounds of job cuts.

The urgency of the shift was highlighted by Tesla reporting a decline of almost 10 per cent in revenues in the first quarter of this year, its first year-on-year quarterly drop since the start of 2020. The share price has more than halved from its November 2021 peak of just under USD 410 a share.

The latest round of layoffs would have a direct impact on employees at Tesla’s facilities in Palo Alto and Fremont, California. According to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN), Tesla said that the layoffs would be implemented during the 14-day period beginning June 20, 2024.

Last month, the electric car maker said that it would lay off 6,020 people in California and Texas, as part of the headcount cuts. The industry-wide job reduction also included 285 employees at its Buffalo, New York facilities that consisted of the labelling team for its Autopilot driver assistance software and the ones that make fast-charging equipment. 

Musk disbanded Tesla’s Supercharger team on April 30. 

Tesla’s supercharger system is among the largest charging networks in the world and was one the reasons the company enjoyed such a commanding lead over rival carmakers for so long.  

He has shut down the division that runs Tesla’s Supercharger business, dismissed two senior executives Rebecca Tinucci, and Daniel Ho and fired hundreds more staff as the electric car maker continues its restructuring amid a sharp downturn in the EV market.