Tesla job losses concern Models S and Model X

The renewed job cuts announced last week by Tesla apparently will mainly affect the production of the Model S and Model X. The electric car manufacturer has now confirmed that production hours for these high-priced models have been cut.

This makes sense considering Tesla took the 75 kWh versions of the Model S and Model X off the market about two weeks ago. A Tesla spokesperson said, “As a result of this change and because of improving efficiencies in our production lines, we have reduced Model S and X production hours accordingly.”

Last Friday, Tesla announced in an e-mail to its employees that it would have to cut around seven per cent of its full-time positions in order to further reduce costs. This is already the second wave of layoffs: Tesla had already announced in June 2018 that it would lay off around nine per cent of its employees.

Pressure could also be put on the Californian electric car manufacturer by the fact that the tax relief granted by the state to sell up to 200,000 electric cars has been decreasing since the beginning of the year. This makes Tesla’s vehicles 3,750 US dollars more expensive for customers since 1 January this year. From July this situation will worsen again, then the credit will be halved again to 1,875 US dollars before it is completely cancelled at the end of 2019. This is not peanuts.

In Europe, meanwhile, reservation holders are eagerly awaiting the Model 3 market launch. According to media reports, they are currently receiving invitations for test drives. Allegedly, two ships with Model 3 electric vehicles are currently on their way to Europe. According to the Bloomberg Model 3 tracker, Tesla has produced more than 177,000 Model 3 to date.

reuters.com, bloomberg.com, electrek.co, teslarati.com (both test drives), bloomberg.com (Model 3-Tracker)