Tesla Inc announced the dramatic shake-up to jobs as part of a plan to trim costs as the company vowed to only retain critical temps and contractors. Mr Musk said: “Tesla will need to make these cuts while increasing the Model 3 production rate and making many manufacturing engineering improvements in the coming months. “Attempting to build affordable clean energy products at scale necessarily requires extreme effort and relentless creativity, but succeeding in our mission is essential to ensure that the future is good, so we must do everything we can to advance the cause. “There isn’t any other way.”
The statement comes from an email to employees that was published on the company’s blog.
Mr Musk said “the road ahead is very difficult” for the company as he highlighted the challege of “making our cars, batteries and solar products cost-competitive with fossil fuels”.
The Tesla CEO admitted the firm’s cars were still “too expensive for most people” but maintained how growth at the company had been strong.
The company recorded a 4 percent profit for the third quarter of 2018, the statement declared.
Mr Musk said: “While small by most standards, I would still consider this our first meaningful profit in the 15 years since we created Tesla.”
Tesla shares plunged by 7 percent in pre-market trading after the announcement.
The electric carmaker cut US prices for all its vehicles to offset lower green tax credits, and fell short on quarterly deliveries of its Model 3 sedan.
Mr Musk said the company is on target to report a GAAP profit in its fourth quarter, but less than the previous three-month period.
He said: “This quarter, as with Q3, shipment of higher priced Model 3 variants (this time to Europe and Asia) will hopefully allow us, with great difficulty, effort and some luck, to target a tiny profit.”