Tesla Axes New Marketing Team Months After Its Launch: Report

Tesla has let go its entire US "growth content" team in its most recent round of layoffs, as per fresh reports by Bloomberg. As per the publication that team had around 40 employees. Tesla continues to have a group of marketing employees in Europe, a source of Bloomberg said.

The growth team was launched about four months ago.

Elon Musk responded to a post on X that said the laid-off staff "could've done a better job with their ads, "Exactly. The ads were far too generic – could've been any car," Musk replied.

Layoffs started on April 14 after Musk announced that the company was planning to lay off more than 10% of its workforce. Many Tesla employees who were laid off noticed that the roles were cut hours after Musk made the announcement. 

"There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done," Musk told his employees adding "This will enable us to be lean, innovative, and hungry for the next growth phase cycle."

Tesla also sent notices to the states of Texas and California under U.S. labor law that requires companies with 100 or more employees to notify 60 days ahead of planned closings or mass layoffs. In the notice, the company said that it's planning on cutting more than 3,332 jobs in California and eliminating 2,688 positions in Texas, which is set to begin on June 14, via Reuters. 

The layoffs did not sit well with the employees who felt that it happened all at once. "On Monday we were all waiting to see if we'd been hit and then by Tuesday we thought we were in a good position and the worst was over. By the time I got the email Wednesday night, it came as more of a shock," a worker, who was laid off last Wednesday, told Business Insider, while another worker said, "I wake up every morning and I check my email because I know if I can't it means I've gotten the boot." 

Tesla is known for not having to run traditional advertisements and has relied on the word of most and posts from none other than Musk himself. However, that changed when Musk decided to "try out a little advertising and see how it goes," last year in May.

Despite hating the idea of advertising, Musk agreed to introduce it after the investors made a call for it arguing that the company should operate more like Apple. This was followed by Tesla's first-ever ad, which aired last year. 

Earlier this month, the Texas-based company said that it delivered 386,810 electric vehicles over the first three months of 2024, down from 484,507 units sold between October and December and Musk attributed the layoffs to the plummet in the sales. Last year's drop was Tesla's lowest quarterly showing since 2022. 

Moreover, Tesla has also slashed prices of EVs across several major markets including China, Germany, and the U.S., to combat the slowed sales. The price cuts were implemented on the Model 3 and Model Y, which make up most of the company's deliveries. Tesla stock has also dropped more than 3% in trading Monday to almost $142 per share. The stock dropped as low as $138.80, marking the company’s latest 52-week low, just before it reports its full first-quarter earnings.