Tesla has said it will have to cut jobs by 7% after the “most challenging” year in its history. (Despite their revenue soaring).
in an email to employees that he also shared on the firm’s website, Elon Musk said that growth at the firm had been good. But he added the firm’s cars were still “too expensive for most people” and the road ahead was “very difficult”. “We unfortunately have no choice but to reduce full-time employee headcount,” he said.
He says that at the beginning of the year, Tesla will sell its higher priced Model 3 vehicle in Europe and Asia which “will hopefully allow us, with great difficulty, effort and some luck, to target a tiny profit”. But he said the company needs to make a lower priced Model 3 “as we need to reach more customers who can afford our vehicles”. Musk said that at the moment, Tesla’s most affordable Model 3 vehicle is $44,000 (£34,000). He adds: “The need for a lower priced variants of Model 3 becomes even greater on 1 July when the US tax credit again drops in half, making our car $1,875 more expensive and again at the end of the year when it goes away entirely.”
