Doug Field, former head of Tesla Model 3 production, not returning after leave of absence

Doug Field -- who previously served head of Tesla Model 3 production until his April reassignment by CEO Elon Musk -- opted to take a leave of absence in May in order to spend time with family and recover his energy. The word at the time was that he had not left the company, but now, according to a Tesla representative, that has changed.

"After almost five years at Tesla, Doug Field is moving on. We'd like to thank Doug for his hard work over the years and for everything he has done for Tesla," said a Tesla representative in a statement to Roadshow.

This break occurs several months after Field was removed from his position as head of Model 3 production and replaced by Elon Musk . At the time, Musk stated in a tweet, "My job as CEO is to focus on what's most critical, which is currently Model 3 production. Doug, who I regard as one of the world's most talented engineering execs, is focused on vehicle engineering."

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Field came to Tesla in 2013 as a vice president of vehicle programs after a five-year stint in hardware engineering at Apple .

Since taking over production of the Model 3, Musk has managed to drive numbers up and having just reached its goal of producing 5,000 cars in a week as of Sunday, July 1 with plans to push even further and reach the level of 6,000 cars per week by the end of the month.

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Updated 7/2/18 at 1:29 P.M (PDT): We've updated this story to include new information regarding Field's departure from Tesla.