Tesla jobs in focus ahead of Elon Musk’s India visit

Hyderabad: At a time when speculation is rife over US-based Tesla's possible EV plant in India as its chief Elon Musk is scheduled to visit the country this month, auto major's plans to slash jobs in leading markets US and China, are creating a buzz in the market circles. As a result, Tesla shares fell four per cent to $155.49 in intraday session on Tuesday. Tesla stock fell 5.6 per cent on Monday. Tesla has been falling from $261.44 on December 27, 2023, till date. Market analysts term it as the correction in hyper-growth narrative that propelled Tesla’s share price to recent highs and made it over priced stock. And it fell over 40 per cent in last 3 months.

For instance, Tesla’s largest plan is located in Shanghai, where layoff was announced. However, the company says only a few dozens of employees would be sacked. According to the latest media reports, several US-based service centers witnessed heavy layoffs that became effective immediately. The retrenched staff included sales staff and technicians.

Making the situation much worse, media reports further put the job cuts at 10 per cent of its global workforce. Reuters in its latest report said that “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.”

Further, Tesla’s sales team in China is reportedly considered as redundant. These reports are adding fuel to the expectations that Tesla is relying more on India for its future global business for cost-cutting and overcoming supply-chain challenges.