Tesla cuts dozens of sales staff as it moves to online-only format, report says
Inside sales personnel from Tampa, Brooklyn and Chicago all got pink slips this week as the company works to lessen its physical sales network.
Tesla is continuing to push toward its goal of an online-only sales model, and its North American sales staff is feeling the crunch.
Bloomberg reported on Monday that Tesla laid off as many as several dozen inside sales staff at locations in Florida, Chicago and New York City. These salespeople had been focused on directly calling potential buyers and attempting to court them.
Since Tesla's announcement of its intent to go online-only, these people's jobs had been transitioned away from sales roles and into answering phones, washing cars and assisting with customer vehicle deliveries -- and were likely accompanied by a considerable reduction in salary due to lost commissions.
This round of job cuts seems to be in line with Elon Musk's March email meant to explain the company's plan for reducing sales staff in the coming months. In that email Musk stated that low-performing stores would be closed, stores with high sales would stay and that some sales staff's jobs would be transitioned to other areas of the company.
Tesla didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Tesla's 2019 has been full of ups and downs so far with underwhelming customer deliveries, price fluctuations and Elon Musk's ongoing court battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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