In a surprising move at Tesla, CEO Elon Musk has let go of one of his longtime aides—Omead Afshar, the Vice President of Manufacturing and Operations—showing that all is not smooth inside the company as it fights slipping sales and a changing public image.
Omead Afshar, who had been seen as Musk’s favorite “fixer,” had only recently taken on the job of running Tesla’s manufacturing and operations for North America and Europe, the two places where demand for the company’s electric cars keeps dropping. Even with such a high-profile position, Omead Afshar was quietly shown the door just days before Tesla wrapped up its second-quarter finances, a timing that many people inside and outside the company view as anything but random.
From Trusted Insider to Abrupt Exit
Omead Afshar first came to Tesla in 2017 as an engineer and quickly shot up the ranks. By late 2024, he was in charge of some of Tesla’s most important areas around the world. Within the company, he ran a tough team of executives, including the heads of regional sales and global policy.
His reach at the company was huge, and he talked directly with Musk almost every day. Still, when Omead Afshar was let go, there was no big press release or explanation. Both Tesla and Musk have stayed quiet about it, and Afshar hasn’t said a word either, though he still lists himself as a Tesla exec on social media.
Just a few days before it happened, Omead Afshar was bragging about the pilot rollout of Tesla’s Robotaxi service in Austin. He posted on X, “Absolutely historic day for Tesla. This has been years of hard work… Thank you, Elon, for pushing us all.” The tone now reads like a goodbye note from someone who didn’t see the pink slip coming.
Sales Drop, Market Shifts, and Musk’s Bet
Omead Afshar’s ousting arrives while vehicle sales are slipping in Tesla’s biggest markets. In Europe, the company has reported five months of falling EV sales, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. In the States, deliveries have slowed, and in China—the biggest battleground—sales dipped 15% just in May.
Experts now say Tesla’s global deliveries will probably drop about 10% year-over-year for the second quarter, landing around 392,800 cars, down from 443,956 a year earlier.
One of the biggest headaches Tesla faces right now is that cheaper, high-quality electric cars from China are grabbing customers faster than anyone expected. At the same time, Tesla’s older models—plus the slow rollout of the much-hyped Cybertruck—have cooled off excitement in the brand.
Even with that backdrop, Musk keeps pushing a bold story: he wants Tesla to be seen less as a car maker and more as a tech company that will one day run fleets of robotaxis, smart A.I., and even friendly humanoid robots. It’s a cool vision, no doubt, but it feels a little out of step when the business still makes almost all its money from cars, batteries, and energy gear people can actually buy today.
The newest piece of that tech dream is the soft launch of a Robotaxi program in Austin, and it has people talking—both for good reasons and bad ones. A small number of Model Ys fitted with the Full Self-Driving package are zipping around a 30-square-mile test zone, but they aren’t picking up just anyone. Only a few hand-picked riders can hop in, and there’s a safety driver behind the wheel for now.
So far, there haven’t been any crashes, but the cars have acted strangely enough that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is taking a closer look. If Tesla plans to change how entire cities get around, that careful start in Austin might hint at the kind of red tape it will face down the line.
Rough Seas at the Top
First, it was Milan Kovac, the guy who ran Tesla’s robot program, and now it’s Omead Afshar, one of Elon Musk’s key lieutenants. Kovac said he had to leave for family reasons, and Elon thanked him on Twitter. Still, the two exits so close together make it hard not to wonder if something bigger is happening inside the company.
Omead Afshar’s story is also a bit messy. Back in 2022, he got pulled into an investigation over whether rare materials had been bought in a shady way for one of Musk’s hush-hush projects. After that, he was shuffled over to SpaceX for a while, returned to Tesla, and somehow still managed to climb into the VP position everyone is now saying he won’t hold much longer.
Meanwhile, Tesla’s stock has dropped almost a fifth this year, and that seems to be tightening Musk’s control even more. His tweets, which jump from backing Trump to giving nods to far-right parties in Europe, aren’t exactly helping the brand look calm or trustworthy right now.
Omead Afshar leaving Tesla so suddenly might look like just another change at the top of the company, but it shows how shaky things really are behind the scenes. Sales aren’t what they used to be, regulators are keeping a closer eye, and even Musk’s big plans for the next few years feel a bit wobbly. Right now, Tesla is standing at a fork in the road, and every move the leaders make will matter a lot more than the chatter in the boardroom.
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Hey, I’m Badal! I’m super passionate about cars—especially electric ones. Whether it’s EVs, electric trucks, bikes, or anything with a battery and wheels, I’m all in. I love writing blogs and articles that break things down for fellow enthusiasts and curious readers alike. Hope you enjoy the ride as much as I do!
