Tesla is advancing its layoff plan, as evidenced by a notice submitted to the Texas Workforce Commission that reveals the car manufacturer intends to cut 2,688 jobs at its headquarters and a large factory located in Austin.
The notice, issued in compliance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, which requires employers to provide a 60-day notice before layoffs, was submitted to the Texas Workforce Commission on April 22 and obtained by The Epoch Times.
According to the WARN notice, Tesla’s layoffs in Austin will commence on June 14, 2024, resulting in the permanent termination of 2,688 employees.
The workforce reduction is expected to take place within a span of two weeks. No indication has been given as to how many employees will be laid off at Tesla’s manufacturing plant producing Model Y and Cybertruck, as well as at the company’s headquarters.
Tesla has not responded to requests for clarification on the extent of the layoffs. The company currently employs approximately 22,000 workers in Austin.
An internal company email seen by The Epoch Times revealed that on April 15, Tesla announced that it would be cutting over 10% of its global workforce of around 140,000 employees, indicating that at least 14,000 jobs will be eliminated.
In the email, Tesla owner Elon Musk stated, “Over the years, we have grown rapidly with multiple factories expanding globally.” “With this rapid growth, some areas have seen overlap in roles and job functions.”
It is currently unclear which departments within Tesla will be affected.
“As we prepare for the next phase of our company’s growth, scrutinizing every aspect of the company to reduce costs and increase productivity is crucial,” Musk continued.
“As part of this effort, we conducted a thorough review of our organization and made the difficult decision to reduce our global workforce by over 10%. There’s nothing I hate more than this, but we must. This will enable us to be lean, innovative, and eager to enter the next phase of growth,” he added.
Last week, Tesla announced it would be laying off 285 employees in Buffalo, New York, as part of its downsizing plan.
The layoffs in Buffalo are set to start on July 15 and are attributed to economic reasons. The two affected factories in Buffalo have a total of 2,032 employees, meaning the reduction will impact roughly 14% of the workforce there.
The Northern New York factories were built to produce solar roof tiles. Tesla also manufactures rapid-charging equipment and staff mark data for its Autopilot driver-assist technology at the facility, which will also serve as the location for the Dojo supercomputer project.
Prior to the layoff announcement, Tesla released a disappointing quarterly delivery report indicating it had delivered 386,810 vehicles, nearly 100,000 fewer than the fourth quarter of 2023, resulting in a year-over-year decline in sales.
Since 2020, Tesla’s vehicle delivery volume has never been lower than the same period the previous year, and quarterly deliveries have not fallen below 400,000 vehicles since the third quarter of 2022.
Tesla attributed the sales decline to early-stage capacity upgrades for the updated Model 3 at its Fremont, California factory, as well as transport delays resulting from attacks on ships and arson incidents by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.
In January, Tesla projected a slowdown in growth for the year, citing the team’s focus on launching the next generation of vehicles, suggesting that the vehicle production growth rate in 2024 may be significantly lower than in 2023.
Tesla assured shareholders that they are committed to bringing the next generation platform to market as soon as possible and plan to begin production at the Texas Gigafactory. “This platform will fundamentally change how vehicles are manufactured.”
In a recent quarterly update, Tesla announced a net profit of $7.9 billion and revenue of $25.2 billion for the fourth quarter of 2023, representing growth from the previous year’s $24.3 billion.
Investors are now eagerly awaiting the release of Tesla’s latest quarterly report, which is set to come out after the market closes on April 23.
It is widely anticipated that Tesla will announce its worst performance in seven years.