Tesla’s global job cuts include staff in leading markets of US and China

Tesla’s global job cuts include reducing staff in the US and China, the automaker’ stwo biggest markets, across sales, tech and engineering, five sources said.

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

Several US-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, they 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 US 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 denied 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.

“We will pursue the measure for Gigafactory BerlinBrandenburg against the background of all labour law and co-determination requirements, bringing in the works council,” Tesla Germany said in a statement yesterday.

It said no workers had been notified yet.

German union IG Metall on

Monday said Tesla had not informed or consulted the works council, as is customary in Germany, before emailing all staff.

While German labour law has strict rules on firing staff, about 1,000 workers at the plant are on temporary contracts, according to a source, 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 US, as well as high investment costs in new models and AI.

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