As Tesla sales fall, Elon Musk fires top manufacturing executive

[midian182]

What just happened? What is a CEO to do when a company's sales continue to fall? If you're Elon Musk, the answer is to fire your vice president of manufacturing and operations in North America and Europe. Omead Afshar was promoted to the role in 2024, having joined the company in 2017 and spending years working in "the office of the CEO."

After Bloomberg reported that Afshar had left the EV giant, Forbes wrote that he had been fired by Musk. The billionaire had previously praised Afshar for leading construction of the Texas gigafactory.

Afshar's X profile still links him to Tesla. His most recent posts, made a few days ago, are about the "historic" launch of the Tesla robotaxis.

In only a couple days of riding… https://t.co/bprXntmrdy

– Omead Afshar (@omead) June 24, 2025

Afshar was the subject of an internal probe in 2022 over allegations that he was involved in a plan to purchase a special kind of material for a Tesla's secret Project 42, which called for a glass structure Musk wanted in the Austin, Texas, area.

Following the probe, Afshar had stints at SpaceX and reportedly at X before returning to Tesla. Musk gave him the VP role at the company in late 2024.

Tesla has struggled like never before in recent years. Selling fewer cars in 2024 than in 2023 marked its first annual fall in more than a decade. In Europe, sales have dropped for a fifth consecutive month; US sales are also down this year; and Tesla's top market of China saw sales decline 15% in May.

Tesla's year-to-date share price

Musk might be blaming the wrong person for Tesla's failing fortunes. It's no secret that his political actions and (former) closeness to Donald Trump impacted the company's sales, especially in Europe. There have been several protests against the auto giant, including a Tesla dealership in Rome being set on fire on March 31, destroying 17 cars.

Musk's brief, very public falling out with Trump earlier this month didn't do his companies any favors. The president threatened to terminate Musk's governmental subsidies and contracts, crashing Tesla's share price by 14% and wiping around $152 billion off its valuation.

Earlier this month, Milan Kovac, who had been head of Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot team, left the company. Bloomberg News also reported that Jenna Ferrua, Tesla's director of HR for North America, is no longer with the firm either.

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As Tesla sales fall, Elon Musk fires top manufacturing executive

 

[Squid Surprise]

Well, giant empires tend to crash spectacularly… here it comes?

 

[wiyosaya]

IMO, the only person fElon has to blame is himself for Tesla's tanking sales. Of course, his ego is too large for him to even consider that he is the source of his own problems. Therefore, he had to fire this guy and pretend he found an answer to Tesla's tanking sales.

 

[seeprime]

Musk shows support Trump. Sales tank worldwide. Musk fires manufacturing instead of himself. Makes sense.

 

[mcnabney]

He should fire the person responsible. Himself.

 

[Trapped Nowhere]

How is this possible with the president and catturd promoting his brand?

 

[New Day]

Of course, his ego is too large for him to even consider that he is the source of his own problems.

Ewww....going into that kind of mind hurts mine! Of course, **** over my whole life haunts me daily, so I can't ignore things.

 

[p51d007]

Other than the cheap Chinese EV's, for the most part, I think (at least in the USA) most than wanted an EV, already have them.
I see stories about the declining sales of EV's in the USA. And I've read rumors that some U.S. manufacturers are cutting back on EV production.
In smaller countries or just cities and towns, EV's might be great. But out in "flyover" country where there could be miles between towns, the charging network hasn't expanded enough.
Hybrids are better.

 

[BlackyNoir]

I find it kind of disgusting that US press keep calling a (well, two) nazi sieg heil salutes during POTUS inauguration as a "political action", or sometimes even worse as a "political controversy".

What's next? Lynching black people is a "political action supporting the proud cultural history of the US South?". What the frick

Tesla cars are swasticars. We don't want them, not in our garages nor in our streets or roads. We loath their owners. Nothing to do with any VP. Everything to do with years of Musk being publicly more and more radicalized, including things that would be extremely illegal here on our side of the pond.

 

[koblongata]

When it touches politics, Techspot is no exception, kind of sad really

 

[toooooot]

Other than the cheap Chinese EV's, for the most part, I think (at least in the USA) most than wanted an EV, already have them.
I see stories about the declining sales of EV's in the USA. And I've read rumors that some U.S. manufacturers are cutting back on EV production.
In smaller countries or just cities and towns, EV's might be great. But out in "flyover" country where there could be miles between towns, the charging network hasn't expanded enough.
Hybrids are better.

I swear, I have never seen more Teslas on the road than this last year.
But yeah, the demand has been satisfied. They need to make the next big step. I mean inexpensive EVs that have batteries guaranteed to last 15 years, and range at least 300 miles. There are things that can attract a lot more new buyers. But they are nowhere near the reach of ordinary people.
Perhaps, the government should help EV makers more. After all, Chinese government is all in on this. I do not know how much they give to their EV makers, but I do not doubt that it is billions upon billions. And that in addition to already favorable conditions such as all of the manufacturing placed in China.
We need to decide if we want to let China conquer the world with their EVs, or join the fight.