Tesla lays off several thousand

Tesla is laying off several thousand jobs across the company as it seeks to reduce costs without endangering the critical production ramp-up for its Model 3 sedan, according to an email CEO Elon Musk sent to staff. 

“As part of this effort, and the need to reduce costs and become profitable, we have made the difficult decision to let go of approximately 9 per cent of our colleagues across the company,” the email obtained from Reuters read.

“These cuts were almost entirely made from our salaried population and no production associates were included, so this will not affect our ability to reach Model 3 production targets in the coming months.”

"Given that Tesla has never made an annual profit in the almost 15 years since we have existed, profit is obviously not what motivates us. What drives us is our mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable, clean energy, but we will never achieve that mission unless we eventually demonstrate that we can be sustainably profitable. That is a valid and fair criticism of Tesla’s history to date."

A spokesman told Reuters that it would reduce overall employment back to around 37,000 - roughly in line with numbers at the end of last year.