Factory front-line employees have also been laid off ”
Author | Wang Lei
Edit | Qin Zhangyong
Tesla's layoff trend continues, and is far more than what Musk said 10% more serious 。
For example, there are 3400 recruitment positions in North America, There are only three left Even so, these three positions do not seem to be full-time.
The layoff is no longer limited to the sales department, including charging, service, engineering, software and even the HR department.
Senior executives also quit in large numbers, with an average of One executive leaves every three days 。 In the past 20 days, seven or eight executives have left, and several rounds of layoffs have been carried out.
Everyone is expecting Musk to say, "Tesla adjustment is over." Some employees even dare not look at their work email for fear of receiving a cold notice of layoff. According to Bloomberg, Musk had hoped to reduce the number of Tesla employees by 20%, and the number of layoffs may also be More than 20000 people 。
In China, Tesla's layoffs are also serious.
With Zhu Xiaotong's recent return to the Shanghai factory, drastic layoffs continue, including a series of departments of the Shanghai Super Factory, including customer service personnel, engineers, production line workers and logistics teams, which will be affected.
In Musk's eyes, after the layoff, the more important thing is Promote the landing of FSD 。
01
A front-line worker was laid off
The layoff rate of Tesla China seems to be far greater than expected.
Musk previously said: "Tesla is streamlining its sales and delivery system because the system has become 'complex and inefficient'."
According to a person familiar with the situation, the layoffs in Tesla China involve multiple departments, some of which will cut 30% - 40%, some of which will cut 50%, and others will generally cut about 20%.
Even Shanghai factories are not immune. According to Bloomberg, this layoff also covers a series of departments in the Shanghai factory, including customer service personnel, engineers, production line workers and logistics teams. Most of the employees who were laid off in this round will receive a certain amount of compensation+3 months' salary.
In addition, a large number of posts were also cancelled. After the production line employees were laid off, some media reported that some employees left with the manager or took the shuttle bus to leave collectively.
Behind the layoff is to comprehensively promote the implementation of FSD. At present, the important direction of this round of adjustment is to promote the landing of its automatic driving technology FSD software, including the development in the Chinese market.
Even Musk's "Fire Fighting General" Zhu Xiaotong , has also returned to China. Zhu Xiaotong joined Tesla in April 2014 and served in several operational positions. Later, he was appointed President of Greater China. It is worth noting that Zhu Xiaotong is listed on Tesla's official website, including Tesla CEO Musk One of the top three executives 。
Later, during his tenure as President of China, Zhu Xiaotong led a series of matters concerning the localization of Tesla products in China, including the opening of the experience center, the spread of new cars in China, and the construction of Shanghai Tesla Super Factory.
At the end of April, Zhu Xiaotong accompanied Musk on his trip to Beijing to promote FSD's entry into China. As the "red man" around Musk, Zhu Xiaotong returns at this time, which cannot be ruled out All in FSD landed in China The possibility of.
A microblog blogger said that Tesla's localization design team in Shanghai might be dissolved under the premise of being eager to promote FSD.
After the news was revealed, many netizens speculated that "Tesla should have done a good job in the whole generation design, and the next step is to focus on cost reduction+FSD."
According to the official explanation of Tesla, this localized design team is to emphasize Tesla's attention to the Chinese market. There will be a special design team resident in China, which can better understand and integrate the unique needs and preferences of Chinese consumers, and carry out product differentiation design based on regional characteristics.
02
FSD still has many challenges
In 2021, Tesla released the FSD beta, but did not focus on it at that time. In the first quarter of 2024, the development of the passenger car market was blocked, FSD has become a new breaking point, and Musk has also made it clear that he will fully promote automatic driving. "If Tesla cannot develop automatic driving technology, its value is‘ Basically zero ’。”
The opportunity for development lies in Tesla's announcement of the launch of Robotaxion August 8.
FSD is the premise and foundation for developing Robotaxiand also the core of Tesla to realize full automation. Tesla has locked the new battlefield in FSD and Robotaxi. The new battlefield also means the need for new strategies.
This is also true at home. As China is the second largest market besides the U.S. headquarters, Tesla's mind is also very clear. While paying a low-key visit to China to talk about cooperation, Tesla will remove the most basic privacy security barriers at the same time.
On the day he arrived in China on the 28th, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers announced that the cars of six enterprises, including Tesla, met four compliance requirements for data security, and Tesla became The only foreign company Is a compliant enterprise.
Later, it reached a cooperation with Baidu, which will provide Tesla with its lane level navigation system. In addition, he also sent his most capable senior general back to China to take charge of the overall situation, and even the release day of Robotaxi is also pleasing China, "Because 8/8 is a lucky number in China."
However, even though Tesla has made a lot of preparations, it is not all right. There are still many barriers to be crossed if he really wants to enter China.
For example, the FSD that Robotaxi must rely on does not seem to meet the test mileage requirements. Musk had predicted that Tesla's FSD test mileage would need to reach 6 billion miles to meet the requirements of global regulators. According to the data released by Tesla on April 6, The actual test mileage of FSD is 1 billion miles 。
Moreover, at present, both in terms of technology and responsibility identification standards, The suitability of FSD and Robotaxi in China's roads remains to be discussed.
Earlier, it was reported that Tesla wanted to land a "driverless taxi" in China. In this regard, China may first support its domestic testing and demonstration, but has not yet fully approved its full implementation of FSD in China.
In addition, Tesla's automated driving model training is deployed in North America. Because of data security issues, either the data obtained in China will be transmitted to the United States, or large-scale AI computing power will be deployed in China. Both options are very challenging.
And the price of FSD is really expensive. The price of FSD in the Chinese market is 64000 yuan , although it is much cheaper than the American market.
However, compared with the NOP+buyout price of 39000 yuan in Weilai and the buyout price of 20000 yuan in Xiaopeng NGP, how attractive is this price?
03
Some employees are discouraged
According to Musk's spoiler, the purpose of this layoff is to turn to AI and sprint for Robotaxi. Accordingly, departments unrelated to automatic driving and AI are called the hardest hit areas for layoffs.
At the end of April, Lao Ma dismissed the entire overcharged team at one time, and more than 500 employees were laid off, including ordinary employees as well as many old people and executives of Tesla.
In an email sent to Tesla executives, Musk said that Rebecca Tinucci, the leader of the overcharge team, and Daniel He, the leader of the new product, left at the same time, and nearly 500 people in the charging team left together. Only "a few" employees will be reassigned to other teams.
It is not difficult to see that this layoff crisis involves not only employees, but also senior executives.
Indeed, more and more executives have left Tesla. Senior Vice President of Tesla Power Assembly and Energy Engineering Drew Baglio Rohan Patel, Vice President of Public Policy and Business Development, announced his resignation on April 15. In particular, Baglio was not only the core deputy of Musk, but also one of Tesla's earliest employees.
On May 5, Tesla sent a new wave of layoff emails. In addition to the front desk and sales staff, it further expanded the scope of layoffs to Software, service, engineering and even HR departments 。 Musk also sent an ultimatum to senior executives. If they did not make a higher proportion of layoffs, they would also be fired.
According to the overseas media The Information, Musk said in an email to Tesla executives that he would“ Definitely tough ”Local layoffs.
Musk's tough style also caused a senior manager's dissatisfaction. He even left on his own initiative.
Seven years in Tesla as Product Launch Director Rich Otto Recently, he announced his resignation and published an article on LinkedIn saying that Tesla's morale was hit after the latest round of layoffs, which shook the morale of the company and lost its balance. "It's hard to see long-term development. It's time to make changes."
Judging from the statement issued by Ricky Otto, Tesla's decision to lay off employees on a large scale this year is the main reason for his final decision to leave Tesla.
As an old man of Tesla, he has participated in many key activities of Tesla. Including Cyber Rodeo in 2022 Cybertruck's launch The first delivery of Model S Plaid and Cybertrucks.
Even the old employees complained about Musk's decision to lay off employees.
However, for Musk, employees will follow through even if they don't understand.
After all, his style has always been the same. In emergency times, he must use an iron hand to get Tesla back on track.
