Elon Musk has fired one of his closest associates, Omead Afshar, who was in charge of Tesla’s operations in North America and Europe. The reason? A months-long slump in Tesla vehicle sales in these key regions. Sales in Europe have dropped for the fifth consecutive month, and the U.S. market is also declining. China, Tesla’s largest market, saw a 15% drop in May. Analysts predict that global vehicle deliveries in Q2 will fall by at least 10%.
Tesla is facing a serious brand crisis, further damaged by Musk’s close ties to Donald Trump and controversial moves like cutting federal employees. The company desperately needs a strong new product, as the Cybertruck, touted by Musk as revolutionary, has failed to meet production targets and become a subject of ridicule.
Meanwhile, Chinese competitors are rapidly gaining ground in the electric vehicle market. Instead of launching new models to boost sales, Musk is betting on robotaxis and humanoid robots, a risky pivot since electric cars and batteries still make up nearly all of Tesla’s revenue. On June 22, Tesla launched a pilot version of its robotaxi in Austin, but tests revealed serious problems. Vehicles entered wrong lanes, dropped off passengers in the middle of roads, braked abruptly, and crossed curbs. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is now investigating these incidents.
Robotaxi test drives have raised concerns among federal regulators and safety experts. Although Musk promised Tesla would be “super paranoid” about safety, reality is far from that. Robotaxis currently operate only in a limited area of Austin, with strict restrictions including no driving in bad weather and no passengers under 18.
Besides Afshar’s departure, Tesla recently lost Milan Kovac, head of the humanoid robot Optimus development team. Tesla shares have fallen 19% this year and closed yesterday with little change.
Is Tesla on the brink of collapse? Musk is betting on the future of robotics and AI while his electric cars struggle to survive in the market. If you thought Tesla was just about cars, think again — now it’s a robot lottery. What do you think, will robotaxis save Tesla or just drive us into chaos? Drop a comment, maybe you have a better prediction!
