Two senior Tesla executives quit

The timing of these departures, coinciding with Elon Musk's announcement of layoffs affecting over 10% of Tesla's workforce, suggests a period of restructuring and adjustment within the company.

By Autocar Professional Bureau

16 Apr 2024

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It seems there’s a lot happening at Tesla in terms of manpower restructuring. On April 15, 2024, Rohan Patel, Tesla's head of policy and business development and Drew Baglino, the SVP of engineering decided to quit the company. Patel joined Tesla in 2017 after working as a “Special Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Senior Advisor for Climate/Energy” in Obama’s White House. Patel was appointed as Tesla’s Vice President of Public Policy and Business Development.

Patel's departure, especially after seven years at Tesla, is notable given his role in managing relations with government entities and regulators, which are crucial for Tesla's operations. Baglino's departure adds to the high-profile exits on the same day, raising questions about the reasons behind these changes.

The timing of these departures, coinciding with Elon Musk's announcement of layoffs affecting over 10% of Tesla's workforce, suggests a period of restructuring and adjustment within the company. It's interesting to note that Patel didn't provide a reason for leaving and expressed a desire to spend time with his family, indicating personal motivations rather than professional ones.

The fact that Patel and Baglino had already removed their "Tesla badges" on social media platforms like 'X' (formerly Twitter) could be seen as symbolic of their disassociation from the company. Their departure, alongside the layoffs, underscores a potentially turbulent period for Tesla as it navigates through various challenges and transitions.

According to an insider, Tesla management has announced to Gigafactory Texas employees that it will shorten the Cybertruck production shift amid rumours that it is preparing a round of layoffs. 14,000 or 10% of the global workforce at Tesla.

Meanwhile, the Tesla stock price has plummeted by more than 33 per cent in calendar year 2024 (CY24) to around USD 170 levels now, marking the electric vehicle giant as the worst performer in the Nasdaq 100 Index and the second worst in the S&P 500 Index.