Tesla to Cut Thousands of Jobs

Friday, January 18, 2019

GoLocalPDX Business Team

Elon Musk

Tesla announced plans to cut its full-time workforce by 7%, CEO Elon Musk announced Friday, according to the Financial Times.

The exact number of employees that will be laid off has not been revealed, however, it is expected to be in the thousands.

"Tesla will need to make these cuts while increasing the Model 3 production rate and making many manufacturing engineering improvements in the coming months," said Musk in an email to employees.

This comes after the company went through a series of cost-cutting measures in an effort to reduce the price of its products.

Following the announcement, Tesla’s shares fell nearly seven percent in premarket trade.

Tesla Cutting Back Products

The announcement of the job cuts follows Tesla’s announcement earlier this week that they are discontinuing its Model S sedans and Model X SUVs.

Musk also announced in a Tweet that Tesla would be ending its customer referral program.

“The Tesla customer referral program will end on February 1. If you want to refer a friend to buy a Tesla and give them six months of free Supercharging, please do so before then,” said Musk.

Currently, the cheapest version of Tesla’s Model 3 costs approximately $44,000.

According to the company, they are looking to release a $35,000 version.