Tesla has announced layoffs of "more than 10%" of its global workforce in an internal company-wide email:
For the last few months, it has looked like Tesla might be preparing for a round of layoffs. Tesla told managers to identify critical team members, and paused some stock rewards while canceling some employees' annual reviews. It also reduced production at Gigafactory Shanghai.
Then, over the weekend, we heard rumors that these layoffs were about to happen, which came to us from multiple independent sources, as we reported on yesterday. The rumors indicated that layoffs could be as high as 20%, and in addition we heard that Tesla would shorten Cybertruck production shifts at Gigafactory Texas (despite CEO Elon Musk's recent insistence that Cybertruck is currently production constrained).
Now those rumors have been confirmed – though with a lower number – in a company-wide email sent by Musk, which leaked soon after it was sent.
[...] The news follows a bad quarterly delivery report in which Tesla significantly missed delivery estimates, and had a rare year-over-year reduction in sales. While Tesla does not break out sales by geographical region, the main dip seems to have come from China, where Chinese EV makers are ramping quickly both in the domestic and export market.
Full text of email available at TFA.
Previously: Tesla is Reportedly Planning Layoffs
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Tesla is Reportedly Planning Layoffs. are Musk's Twitter Antics to Blame? - SlashGear
Tesla investors blame the Twitter lordship:
Elon Musk has reportedly ordered a hiring freeze at Tesla and told his lieutenants at the EV company to brace for a free round of layoffs. According to a report by Electrek, Tesla has already told employees that fresh hirings have been put on hold and that some teams will lose manpower early next year. However, these plans reportedly won't affect Tesla's expansion targets for the coming quarters.
[...] Ever since Musk went public with his $44 billion takeover of Twitter, the price of Tesla stock has tanked, and right now, the company is inching towards its worst quarter ever. Tesla stock has lost over half of its value since April, but Musk continues to assure that the company is doing better than ever. Instead, the billionaire has blamed the downward spiral of Tesla stock on global macroeconomic variables and the feds.
Not everyone is buying Musk's arguments. Fingers are being pointed in his direction at the moment, and from Tesla investors, no less. Ever since Musk disclosed his intentions to run the show at Twitter, concerns were raised that the social media platform will distract him from his duties at Tesla. Back then, Musk promised that won't happen and assured investors that Tesla will always be his top priority.
A major American auto manufacturer reportedly laid off about 1,000 of its employees on Monday, including about 600 workers based in the U.S. in a bid to streamline current operations:
General Motors (GM) is making cuts in its software and services business, which was recently put under the command of two former Apple executives in a partial retreat from a hiring spree over the last several years, according to The Wall Street Journal. Monday's layoffs stand as the most recent job cuts at GM, which reached buyout agreements with approximately 5,000 salaried employees in 2023 as part of a cost-cutting effort and got rid of several hundred executive positions in February of that year, according to Reuters.
[...] The layoffs are not related to a specific cost-reduction initiative but are instead a result of the company leadership's review of the business and an effort to find more opportunities for efficiency, a GM spokesperson told the DCNF [Daily Caller News Foundataion]. Monday's job cuts followed a decision by the two new GM executives from Apple, Baris Cetinok and Dave Richardson, to streamline the service and software business, sources familiar with the matter told the WSJ.
The spokesperson could not comment as to how many jobs were affected by Monday's actions but said that around 600 jobs would be affected at the company's global technical center in Warren, Michigan.
Previously: GM to Slash 1500 Jobs at Lordstown, Ohio Plant
Related: Tesla Lays Off 'More Than 10%' of its Global Workforce
A multinational automaker prepared to lay off more than 2,000 American workers in August after benefiting handsomely from the Biden administration's subsidies for electric-vehicle production:
Stellantis, the parent company to famous brands like Ram and Jeep, has been awarded hundreds of millions in grants from the federal government to promote its EV manufacturing. But the Biden administration's largesse has not prevented the company from laying off American workers.
In July, the Department of Energy awarded Stellantis subsidiary Chrysler a $334.8 million grant to convert a shuttered Illinois plant into a facility for building EVs and another $250 million grant to make a ...(aaaand, paywall)
The AP ran a story a few weeks ago foreshadowing this action:
The statement comes as the company faces increased capital spending to make the transition from gasoline vehicles to electric autos. It also has reported declining U.S. sales in the first quarter, and it has higher costs due to a new contract agreement reached last year with the United Auto Workers union. Stellantis has about 43,000 factory workers.
[...] Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares has said his company has to work on cutting costs globally in order to keep electric vehicles affordable for the middle class. Electric vehicles, he has said, cost about 40% more than those powered by gasoline. Without cost reductions, EVs will be too expensive for the middle class, shrinking the market and driving costs up more, Tavares has said.
I've been working on cars for most of my life and my observation is Chrysler/Ram are the worst vehicles on the road. I also own two Jeeps that are 50+ years old, however Chrysler has ruined the Jeep name by what I assume is cutting corners to save money because they're poorly designed and flimsy. Interesting the powers that be at Stellantis don't seem to be concerned about these issues.
Previously: Chrysler to Go All-Electric by 2028, Starting with the Airflow in 2025
Related:
• General Motors Lays Off Hundreds Of US Workers
• Tesla Lays Off 'More Than 10%' of its Global Workforce
Last week, the House approved a resolution to block the Biden administration's emissions rule that would require more than half of the automobiles sold in the new-car market to be electric by 2032. The 215 representatives who voted for the bill, including eight Democrats, are far more in tune with most of the country than the White House:
Nationwide, the inventory of unsold EVs had grown by nearly 350% over the first half of 2024, creating "a 92-day supply — roughly three months' worth of EVs, and nearly twice the industry average," says Axios, which is 54 days for gasoline-powered vehicles.
Ford, which lost nearly $73,000 on each EV it sold in the second quarter of 2023, continues to yield to reality, now ditching its plans to build a large electric SUV. This "course change," says Just the News, "comes amid lower-than-expected demand for electric vehicles."
[...] "Based on where the market is and where the customer is, we will pivot and adjust and make those tough decisions," said John Lawler, Ford's chief financial officer.
[...] "Of the U.S. consumers planning on purchasing a new vehicle in the next 24 months, only 34% intend to purchase an EV, down 14% from 48% in the 2023," says Ernst & Young's Mobility Consumer Index, "a global survey of almost 20,000 consumers from 28 countries."
The story is much the same in Britain. EVs "are losing value at an 'unsustainable' rate as a slowdown in consumer demand sends used car prices tumbling," the Telegraph reported last week. Meanwhile in France, "the EU's second largest market for battery electric vehicles behind Germany," deliveries have fallen by a third.
Germans are likewise losing interest, as the country has "suffered a 'spectacular' drop in electric car sales as the European Union faces growing calls to delay its net zero vehicle targets," the Telegraph said in a separate story.
Related:
- Stellantis Lays Off Thousands of Workers after Pocketing Hundreds of Millions in EV Subsidies
- VW Turns on Germany as China Targets Europe's EV Blunders
- South Korean EV Battery Makers Reporting Big Losses as EV Demand Slows
- Tesla Lays Off 'More Than 10%' of its Global Workforce
- Why are All the EVs so Expensive?
(Score: 3, Funny) by epitaxial on Tuesday April 16, @05:47AM
Did they make a car with a rainbow on it or something? Oh, that slogan doesn't apply to this situation?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Unixnut on Tuesday April 16, @09:57AM (6 children)
I consider Tesla more of a tech company that happens to make cars than a car company, and the tech industry has been going through rounds of layoffs for a few years now. So many layoffs that there are live tracking sites [layoffs.fyi] for it.
It has been difficult for a lot of people. I myself was laid off last August and have yet to find a new job. My Linkedin if full of people looking for tech jobs for a year or more. Some are actually running out of savings, becoming desperate and pleading with anyone who reads their post to get in touch if they have a job available.
The only jobs I've found so far are very entry-level (e.g. "helpdesk support engineer") or are just unrealistic, in the form of "we want a 20+ year Unix sysadmin, programming expert and also a technical manager to lead the team, for 1/5th of your previous salary".
One place that offered a realistic job at an acceptable wage told me that they have averaged over 1,000 applicants a month for it, so many that they actually have to auto-reject a lot of people because they were so overwhelmed by the interest they did not have enough time in the day to review each manually.
Considering the constant increases in the cost of living over the last few years, even if I took the job at 1/5th my previous earnings I am not sure it would sustain me for long. Things are pretty bad right now (my experience is UK/Europe, but I know it has started getting worse in the USA as well)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday April 16, @10:36AM
I consider Tesla a typical business, and typical businesses take a bad quarter as an opportunity for some "rank and yank" management.
I consider typical businesses bad places to work and was more than happy to leave the last company that pulled a round of "rank and yank" - even though they didn't "yank" me.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Touché) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday April 16, @10:52AM
>One place that offered a realistic job at an acceptable wage told me that they have averaged over 1,000 applicants a month for it
Back in 2002 we advertised a job in the Miami Herald, specifically stated in the ad "only local candidates will be considered, no relocation benefit offered." The ad ran for the minimum cycle offered by the paper, one week I think, and we received over 400 applicants for the job, about 200 from out of town, about 20 of those from overseas - and these were all snail-mailed paper resumes with cover letters.
The pile was on my desk, so I started by sorting by address - thus my estimates above. About 1/3 of the way through the pile I found a reasonably local candidate who had worked for a local company that we did regular business with, we contacted his ex-manager and asked the question "given the opportunity, would you re-hire him?" The answer was yes, so we called him in for an interview, interview went well so he was hired.
My sincerest apologies to the estimated 130+ other local candidates whom I never even got around to reading the address on your resume.
To all the out of town candidates spamming my desk with paper specifically disregarding the only instruction given to you: what do you think a job is?
To the guy from England with his heartfelt plea for employment in a warmer climate, willing to pay his own airfare for an interview: your honesty is appreciated, but it's just pathetic man. Maybe you should do what I did after I got my B.S. - go on a tourist visit to where you might work, hang with a friend if you've got one or in a cheap place to stay and go for interviews like you're a local.
Back in 2003 that company ran out of money and laid everyone off. To the similar company in Sarasota Florida I interviewed with in 2003 who gave me a pass after the interview, hiring a local instead, then running out of money in 2005, my sincerest thanks for hiring the other guy.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Tuesday April 16, @02:07PM (1 child)
So, uh, Tesla makes an app which happens to require unusual hardware.
Don't put a mindless tool of corporations in the white house; vote ChatGPT for 2024!
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 16, @02:51PM
Yeah, it's a tictokker trapper.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 16, @04:19PM (1 child)
> I consider Tesla more of a tech company that happens to make cars
Interesting, I may have to revise my assessment of Tesla.
My take, some years ago, was that Tesla was a battery company that happened to make cars. If/when they had a market for their batteries with other car companies (business-to-business), then they would exit the car business and all the mess of retail and individual customers. This business plan may have been scuttled by the rise of the huge Chinese battery companies?
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Wednesday April 17, @12:45PM
That is certainly not the way they started. For a long time Panasonic and LG supplied the batteries for Tesla cars, and the Tesla Powerwall came much later than the cars and also used Panasonic batteries, at least initially.
That is a very interesting claim. Do you have a reference for that?
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by DadaDoofy on Tuesday April 16, @03:25PM (5 children)
Tesla is simply one of the many EV manufacturers feeling the wrath of the free market. Now that people are getting past the propaganda and hype they've been spoon fed, they are starting to see EVs for what they are - transportation that is inferior to ICE vehicles in virtually every measure. Even the mainstream media have been forced to admit demand for EVs is tanking:
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/industry-pain-abounds-electric-car-demand-hits-slowdown-2024-01-30/ [reuters.com]
https://www.npr.org/2024/02/07/1227707306/ev-electric-vehicles-sales-2024 [npr.org]
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/business/energy-environment/electric-vehicles-sales.html [nytimes.com]
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2023/05/08/ev-sales-2023-slowing/70188358007/ [usatoday.com]
https://www.businessinsider.com/automakers-back-to-the-drawing-board-ev-plans-2024-2?op=1 [businessinsider.com]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by cmdrklarg on Tuesday April 16, @08:58PM (4 children)
Inferior? Hardly. What your links say is that EV sales growth is slowing, not stopping. What you're seeing is that most people who really wanted an EV have one now.
The only reason I don't own one is because when my lease was up there were no EVs available, since they were either too expensive or not in stock (this was during the COVID induced chip shortage). I am very interested in getting an EV. My ideal EV would be a Ford Maverick sized pickup. No one sells one however. I am hoping that the 2026 lineups have a few for me to choose from.
If you're like me, where most of my drive is only 50-60 miles a day an EV is a no brainer. If you need to tow large loads long distance then an EV is not for you.
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Goghit on Wednesday April 17, @04:07AM (3 children)
That's been pretty much my read. We've had an EV for 4+ years now and as a daily commuter car it still rules. But we can recharge at home and if I need to feel like a Real Man I can still take the F250 out to pick up a load of rocks or horse manure or whatever it is that Real Men do with their Real (diesel) Trucks. (Gas is for lawnmowers.)
Lotta propaganda about the EV being dead. I hope not, it definitely has its niche.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 17, @03:05PM
> (Gas is for lawnmowers.)
We have an average suburban lawn and have been very happy with our little battery electric mower for nearly 10 years now, this one: https://www.blackanddecker.com/products/cm2043c [blackanddecker.com]
While I did the "manly thing" of small engine repair to keep my own mowers going (along with the odd neighbor) for over 40 years, it was getting old(grin). The battery mower is a lot nicer all around, no pull starting, lighter, quieter, and low vibration.
Perhaps to keep me from feeling emasculated(grin), it has needed a few repairs--riveting a reinforcement over a crack in the plastic housing, adding cotter pins to keep the wheels on (the push-on clips rusted), and I've gone a few rounds with the mechanical parts of the dead-man safety switch.
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Wednesday April 17, @08:59PM (1 child)
I've been itching to buy a battery powered mower. I'm trying to decide whether I should go with the Ryobi that can use the 18V batteries (I have some for my power tools), or to go with the EGO mower, which would use the same batteries as the snowblower I want to acquire. The EGO equipment is so dang expensive though. My former boss has them and he's very happy with them, so I think I will get them eventually.
I'm glad I didn't buy a new snowblower last fall as I didn't need to use my old one at all this winter. It was the least snowy MN winter I've ever seen.
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 18, @04:56PM
Full marks for battery electric mowers, we've had our Black & Decker (noted up-thread) for nearly 10 years. It does fine with our 1/4 or 1/3 acre of grass. Very light and needs more passes (smaller blade diameter) than the former Honda self-propelled gas mower, but the electric is very easy to push and the extra steps are healthy anyway.
A couple of years ago we bought a pair of aftermarket batteries with about 1.5 x the Ah rating of the originals and the price was very reasonable (~1/3 compared to ~10 years ago). I tend to swap batteries before they are low and before they get too warm, once they cool off I might use again before charging. We try to never let the charge go below 1 bar (of 4 bars total), but it has happened a few times and the batteries don't seem worse for the extra stress. Same for charging, if they start to get too warm, I turn off the charger and let them cool before finishing.
We purchased at Sears (Craftsman branded, same mower, before Sears closed) and the salesman had been to a good training class. We asked about snowblowers because there was one that used the same "40V Max" 10-cell battery (36V under load), but he knew that it wouldn't blow much snow before the battery died. Snow blowing at any depth takes more power than a rotary mower.
This past winter in Buffalo was about as you described for MN, almost nothing. Our old gas snow blower still runs, but it was only started up twice this season. Of course the snow blower got a workout during the Christmas 2022 Buffalo NY blizzard...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bussdriver on Tuesday April 16, @07:56PM
It's simple, instead of investing in the future and building trust with his employees, he is making the stock market happy by punishing workers for short term gains. Also, he did just get stopped in court, by shareholders from robbing his company of 40+ billion in "salary" to himself to make up for being the biggest twit on earth (self labeled but in another context that is far less fitting.)
Workers have to already be feeling lower morale with their bosses slide into megalomania; this will not help. If he could let the employees be free to fix his mistakes this time could be spent improving the stagnant products and maybe turn around his fundamentally poor decisions on the Truck and the semi-truck.
Maybe they can start putting in buttons and knobs before regulators force them? Maybe a repair program as people are going to start learning about how badly his company currently treats their old cars more like a smartphone maker does... And the old business model of planned obsolescence that would keep his customers returning but was resisted; now it's costing them sales and when the car does break enough it'll piss off customers so much they will not return... try looking into people with unsupported old teslas trying to fix them to get an idea.