Afshar was promoted last year to oversee sales and manufacturing operations in North America and Europe. He previously worked in the office of the CEO.
Tesla Inc. (TSLA) senior executive Omead Afshar has reportedly left the company, marking the latest high-level departure at the EV maker.
Bloomberg reported the news first on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The reason for his exit and his future plans are unclear, the report said.
However, Forbes reported on the heels of Bloomberg that CEO Elon Musk fired Afshar over declining sales in North America and Europe and the EV brand’s falling popularity.
Musk's confidant Afshar was promoted last year to oversee sales and manufacturing operations in North America and Europe. He previously worked in the office of the CEO.
According to Afshar’s LinkedIn account, he joined the EV company in 2017. One among the few executives to be marked as affiliated with Tesla on X, Afshar has been active on X for the past few days and even cheered the company’s robotaxi pilot launch earlier this week.
“This has been years of hard work and focus by so many people within the company. Thank you, Elon, for pushing us all!” he wrote.
Earlier this month, Milan Kovac, head of engineering for Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot program, also left the company. Kovac said in a post on the social media platform X that his decision was spurred by his decision to spend more time with his family and nothing else. He also reiterated his support for Musk and the team at Tesla.
Afshar, however, is yet to publicly declare his exit from the company.
The high-profile exits at Tesla follow a drop in the company’s EV sales.
In the first quarter, Tesla reported deliveries of 336,681 units, marking a dip of nearly 13% from the corresponding quarter of 2024 and the company’s worst quarterly performance in at least two years.
In 2024, the company reported deliveries of around 1.79 million units, down from 1.81 million deliveries in 2023.
The company is expected to report its second-quarter deliveries early next month. UBS said earlier this week that it expects the company’s second-quarter deliveries to be 366,000, 10% below consensus, as it anticipates demand to remain challenging.
Musk, meanwhile, has been attempting to recast the company around autonomous vehicles, robots, and artificial intelligence.
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