As Tesla’s layoffs continue, 600 jobs have been cut in California

As part of of Tesla In a massive restructuring, the electric vehicle maker notified the California Department of Employment Development this week that it is cutting about 600 more jobs at its manufacturing facilities and engineering offices between Fremont and Palo Alto.

Recent layoffs have eliminated roles across the board — from entry-level positions to directors — and affected a wide range of departments, affecting factory workers, software developers and robotics engineers.

The layoffs were reported in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act (WARN) filing that CNBC obtained through a public records request.

Faced with weakening demand for Tesla EVs and increased competition, the company has been cutting staff since at least January. Chief Executive Elon Musk told employees in a memo in April that the company would cut more than 10% of its global workforce, which reached 140,473 employees at the end of 2023.

Previous filings revealed that Tesla will cut more than 6,300 jobs in California, Austin, Texas and Buffalo, New York.

Musk said during Tesla’s quarterly earnings call last month that the company has accumulated “inefficiencies” of 25% to 30% over the past few years, meaning the ongoing layoffs could affect tens of thousands more employees than the number suggests. 10%

According to the WARN filing, the 378 job cuts in Fremont, home to Tesla’s first U.S. manufacturing plant, include people involved in hiring and managing vehicle assembly. There were 65 cuts on the company’s Kato Rd. battery development center.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

Among the top-level roles eliminated at Fremont were director of environmental health and safety and director of user experience design.

In Palo Alto, where the company’s engineering headquarters is located, another 233 employees lost their jobs, including two directors of technical programs.

Tesla has also fired most employees involved in designing and improving apps built for customers and employees, according to two former employees with direct knowledge of the matter. The WARN filing shows that’s the case, with many being laid off from the team at Tesla’s Hanover Street location in Palo Alto.

Tesla is facing reduced demand for cars it makes in Fremont, including the older Models S and X and the Model 3 sedan. Total deliveries fell in the first quarter from a year earlier, and Tesla reported its sharpest drop in revenue in annual basis since 2012.

The onslaught of competition, particularly in China, continued to put pressure on Tesla’s sales in the second quarter. Xiaomi and Nio have launched new EV models that undercut Tesla’s most popular cars.

Tesla’s stock price has tumbled about 30% so far this year, while the S&P 500 is up 11%.

Musk is trying to convince investors not to focus on vehicle sales and instead to support Tesla’s potential to finally deliver self-driving software, robotics and a “sentient” humanoid robot. Musk and Tesla have long promised customers self-driving software that would turn their existing EVs into robotics, but the company’s systems still require constant human supervision.

others recent job cuts at Tesla included the team responsible for building the Supercharger, or fast-charging network for electric vehicles, in the US

Tesla revealed its plans in its annual report filing for 2023 to grow and optimize its charging infrastructure “to ensure cost efficiency and customer satisfaction”. Tesla said in the filing that it needed to expand its “network to ensure adequate availability to meet customer demands” after other car companies announced plans to adopt the North American charging standard.

Since laying off most of its Supercharging team, Tesla has it is reported has begun rehiring at least some members, a move reminiscent of job cuts Musk made at Twitter after buying the company, later rebranded as X. Musk told CNBC’s David Faber last year that he wanted to rehire some of those he freed.

Read the latest WARNING in California here: