Tesla US advertising team affected by layoffs: report

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A report recently claimed that Tesla’s US marketing team has been affected by the electric vehicle maker’s recent round of layoffs. Some members of Tesla’s Design Studio in Hawthorne, CA were reportedly affected by the job cuts as well. As noted in a previously leaked Elon Musk email, Tesla will be letting go of over 10% of its workforce as part of an effort to streamline its operations.

As noted in a Bloomberg News report, Tesla’s “growth content” team, which was comprised of about 40 workers and were led by senior manager Alex Ingram, were reportedly affected by the job cuts. Citing people reportedly familiar with the matter, the publication claimed that Ingram was also affected by the workforce reduction, though Tesla reportedly still maintains a marketing team in Europe. 

Bloomberg also claimed that Tesla’s Design Studio in Hawthorne California were affected by the recent round of job cuts. Elon Musk, for his part, noted in a post on X that Tesla’s advertisements have been far too generic so far. “Exactly. The ads were far too generic — could’ve been any car,” Musk wrote in a post on X.

Tesla’s alleged decision to let go of its US marketing team may come as a bit of a surprise considering that CEO Elon Musk approved the idea of advertising during last year’s annual meeting of stockholders. Following the annual shareholder meeting, Tesla was observed to have implemented a series of advertising initiatives, though a good number of them seemed centered on social media campaigns.

Tesla’s recent round of job cuts is the largest by volume to date. With Tesla indicating in a 10-K filing to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it had a global headcount of 140,473 employees as of the end of 2023, the recent workforce reduction from the company suggests that Tesla would let go of over 14,000 workers across the board. 

Elon Musk, for his part, explained in a post that Tesla needs to reorganize and streamline itself for the next phase of its growth. He also subtly hinted that he is entering “wartime CEO” mode once more, which seems fitting as Tesla is currently working on its ambitious goal of unveiling a dedicated Robotaxi on August 8, 2024. 

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Tesla US advertising team affected by layoffs: report





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Elon Musk comments on Tesla’s pricing strategy following cuts

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Tesla has dropped the prices of its electric vehicles (EVs) and its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software over the past few weeks, reigniting larger discussions about the automaker’s overall pricing strategy. In response to one person criticizing the frequency of Tesla’s price changes, Elon Musk has pointed to the dealership model, noting that most automakers change prices on their vehicles more regularly than consumers may realize.

On Friday, Tesla reduced the price of the Model S, X, and Y by $2,000, after the company cut the price of monthly FSD subscriptions in half earlier this month. On Saturday, Tesla also cut the price of the outright FSD purchase option, to which some consumers and shareholders responded with frustration.

Tesla’s pricing strategy comes down to one key difference from its competitors

Following the news, Omar of Whole Mars Blog noted that he finds Tesla’s pricing strategy incoherent, to which Sawyer Merritt noted that this was one of the rare downsides of the direct-to-consumer sales model, despite the extra pricing transparency.

“I think that if you had a monkey throw shit at a keyboard to come up with a pricing strategy for Tesla it would be more coherent than what we’ve seen,” Omar said on Sunday. “Subscription price will go up once we release FSD. Actually we will cut it. We are raising Model Y prices. Actually now we are lowering them.”

“It’s amusing to follow, but probably confusing to consumers. Should I buy FSD now because the price was cut? Or should I wait for the next FSD price cut and save thousands of dollars?”

In response, Musk noted that the dealership model doesn’t offer the same level of transparency that a direct-to-consumer model offers, with the MSRP on a car often being far from its actual price.

To be sure, last week’s Model S, X, and Y price cuts followed additional price cuts just a few weeks ago, which included the Model 3, and saw some vehicle prices dropping off by as much as $5,000.

Last year, following aggressive price cuts that sent shockwaves through the industry, Musk noted that Tesla would be opting for a high volume of vehicles delivered at slightly lower margins, especially given its future potential for revenue from software and services.

“We’ve taken a view that pushing for higher volumes and a larger fleet is the right choice here versus a lower volume and higher margin,” Musk said during the company’s Q1 2023 earnings call. “However, we expect our vehicles, over time, will be able to generate significant profit through autonomy.”

“So we do believe we’re like laying the groundwork here, and then it’s better to ship a large number of cars at a lower margin, and subsequently, harvest that margin in the future as we perfect autonomy. This is an extremely important point.”

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send your tips to us at tips@teslarati.com.

Elon Musk comments on Tesla’s pricing strategy following cuts





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Tesla installing Cybertruck accelerator pedal fixes

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Tesla has already started fixing Cybertruck units following a recent recall due to an issue with the accelerator pedal.

After Tesla put a pause on Cybertruck deliveries and canceled customer appointments last weekend, a recall notice was issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) due to a problem with the accelerator pedal. Following the recall, Tesla has already started installing fixes on some Cybertrucks, as highlighted by a few customers in the last couple of days.

On Saturday, Tesla was fixing the issue for some owners at the Cyber Takeover Cybertruck meetup event at its store in Long Beach, California. The problem was fixed by the technicians simply installing a small rivet beneath the pedal. The issue takes just 35 seconds in one video, as can be seen in the video below.

In addition to those having the pedal fixed at the Cyber Takeover event, another owner in Virginia posted on Facebook on Thursday, saying that he was able to pick their Cybertruck up after the cancellation of his delivery appointment last weekend.

In the post, owner Jim McGlone also writes that Tesla installed a small rivet at the bottom of the accelerator pedal, which will hold the cover in place for the time being. McGlone adds that Tesla also plans to design and ship a new pedal to owners at some point.

You can see his photo of the pedal following the temporary fix below.

Credit: Jim McGlone | Facebook

Following the delivery pause, CEO Elon Musk noted that there had been no injuries or accidents from the issue, adding that Tesla was “just being very cautious” with the recall.

Tesla is currently ramping up Cybertruck production at its Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, and the company delivered a total of 2,803 units of the vehicle in the first quarter, according to data from Cox Automotive.

Tesla Cybertruck Spring update to introduce tank turn-esque ability

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send your tips to us at tips@teslarati.com.

Tesla installing Cybertruck accelerator pedal fixes





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