Tesla Executive and Close Ally of Elon Musk, Left the Firm

One of Tesla’s most senior executives and long-time confidante of Elon Musk has departed the electric vehicle company, three sources with knowledge of the situation said on Thursday, another blow to the company as it grapples with a decelerating global market.

One of Musk’s trusty lieutenants is Omead Afshar, who joined the office of the CEO last year and has been in charge of sales and manufacturing in Europe and North America, playing a major role in several projects like the Texas Gigafactory.

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The sources who refused to be identified did not provide any information on the circumstances of his departure or the motive of this departure. Afshar had written about Tesla on X earlier this week and his accounts on X and LinkedIn listed his Tesla position as current as of Wednesday.

Afshar left at the time when demand was falling in Europe and North America on Tesla vehicles, which had an ageing line-up, and competitors have provided cheaper options.

Two individuals acquainted with Tesla’s operations stated that Mr. Afshar assumed additional responsibilities this year, during which time Mr. Musk was occupied in Washington.

This year, Musk spearheaded a government cost-cutting initiative led by President Donald Trump, and investors and analysts were concerned that this was taking away his focus on Tesla and losing some potential customers in the process.

Matthew LaBrot, the former mid-level Tesla sales manager who was recently let go after speaking out publicly against Musk, claimed Afshar was a key figure who was very close to Musk until he took on the roles of head of sales and manufacturing in North America and Europe.