According to reports, American multinational automotive and clean energy company, Tesla has laid off more than 10% of its workforce in preparation for “the next phase growth cycle.”
No fewer than 14,000 workers are expected to be affected by the global layoffs that happened weeks after the company revealed its first annual decrease in car deliveries since 2020.
A company-wide internal email received by Electrek revealed that 14,000 of the 140,473 workers that Tesla disclosed in its most recent annual report would be affected by the exercise.
In the email published by Electrek, Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, said: “There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done.
“This will enable us to be lean, innovative, and hungry for the next growth phase cycle.”
This came after reports that Tesla had abandoned plans to build a low-priced Model 2 estimated to cost about $25,000.
The company instead decided to focus on developing a new Robotaxi.
In a similar move, Tesla said it would stop charging a subscription fee for its Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver-assist software citing the current financial difficulties at the company.
The company reduced the price from $199 where it was since 2021 to $99 per month.
In a post on X, Tesla stated the price change and referred to the Level 2 DAS as “FSD (Supervised)”—a nomenclature change intended to emphasize that drivers must be alert to traffic and be prepared to take over control of the vehicle.
