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A former Tesla program manager claims he was fired for criticising Elon Musk.
Matthew LaBrot created a website urging Musk to resign due to declining sales.
LaBrot criticised Musk’s focus as detrimental to the company’s demand issues.
A now-former Tesla staff program manager has claimed that he was fired from the job after he called out CEO Elon Musk for hurting the company and the car sales. Matthew LaBrot, who joined the company in 2019, calling it his dream job, took to LinkedIn to share his story.
“I was let go from Tesla nearly two weeks ago,” wrote Mr LaBrot, adding that it was his anonymously created website called “Tesla Employees Against Elon” where he demanded that Mr Musk step down, led to his axing.
In April, Mr LaBrot created the website where he laid out his manifesto against Mr Musk and his leadership that has led to plummeting car sales. The ex-Tesla employee said the company was at a crossroads and that a decision needed to be made.
“The damage done to Elon’s personal brand is now irreversible and as the public face of Tesla, that damage has become our burden. We are now at a crossroads: continue with Elon as CEO and face further decline as customers abandon the brand, or move forward without him and allow our products and mission to succeed or fail on their own,” wrote Mr LaBrot.
Calling Mr Musk’s recent decision to “refocus” on Tesla as tone-deaf, Mr LaBrot said the billionaire’s lack of attention towards the company had led to the current predicament.
“Our products are not the problem. Our engineering, service, and delivery teams are not the problem. The problem is demand. The problem is Elon,” he said.
“The sustainable energy movement that Tesla helped bring to the mainstream will continue, but if we don’t act now, it will continue without us.”
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Tesla in turmoil?
In April, Tesla reported a 13 per cent drop in first-quarter auto sales amid lower production during factory upgrades and blowback over Mr Musk’s work for the Donald Trump administration. In France, Tesla EV sales plunged by 59 per cent, the company’s third-biggest market in the European Union.
Overall, the first quarter sales in Europe fell by 37 per cent, despite overall EV sales rising by 28 per cent. Additionally, the automaker’s net income during this period tumbled by a staggering 71 per cent.
