Tesla's global job cuts include leading markets US, China

SHANGHAI/BERLIN – Tesla‘s global job cuts include reducing staff in the U.S. and China, the automakers’ two biggest markets, across sales, tech, and engineering, five sources briefed on the matter said.

CEO Elon Musk on Monday told staff in an internal memo seen by Reuters that the company is laying off more than 10% of its global workforce, as it grapples with falling sales and an intensifying price war for electric vehicles.

Several U.S.-based service centres saw heavy layoffs effective immediately, primarily of sales staff and technicians, one source said. Another location laid off all front-of-house staff, the source said.

A Tesla programme manager in California posted a spreadsheet on LinkedIn of over 140 staff, mostly engineers, who had been laid off and were seeking new jobs.

Two sources said members of Tesla’s China sales team were being notified they were being made redundant, with one saying more than 10% were losing their jobs.

A third source said that in Shanghai, where Tesla’s largest plant is located, the company will only lay off a small proportion of staff, amounting to “several dozen” people.

Tesla’s U.S. headquarters and its China unit did not immediately respond to requests for comment. All the sources declined to be named as they were not permitted to speak to media.

The Shanghai and Beijing local governments did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Tesla Germany refuted reports in German media that 3,000 of the carmaker’s roughly 12,000 staff had been fired, and said it was evaluating how to implement Musk’s orders at the plant.

“We will pursue the measure for Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg against the background of all labour law and co-determination requirements, bringing in the works council,” Tesla Germany said on Tuesday in an e-mailed statement to Reuters, adding no workers had been notified yet.

German union IG Metall on Monday said that Tesla had not informed or consulted the works council, as is customary in Germany, prior to emailing all staff.

While German labour law has strict rules on firing staff, around 1,000 workers at the plant are on temporary contracts, according to a source with knowledge of the matter, leaving them more vulnerable to dismissal.

Tesla faces increasing competition in China in a fierce price war with rivals led by BYD, slowing sales in the United States, as well high investment costs in new models and artificial intelligence.

Global vehicle deliveries in the first quarter fell for the first time in nearly four years, as price cuts failed to stir demand.

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