After only 9 months in office: Tesla fires sales chief

Tesla, which until the end of 2024 was still considered a prime example of the success of the electric vehicle revolution, is increasingly struggling with declining sales and a diminishing market presence. Now, Elon Musk is firing Omead Afshar, the vice president responsible for sales in Europe and the US – according to business magazine Forbes , citing insiders. The dismissal is a strong indication of how tense the situation at Tesla has become. Once celebrated as "Musk's fixer," Afshar was unable to stabilize the company's course. The decline in sales in both key regions is now alarming for Tesla.

Afshar ambitiously took on the task of driving Tesla's expansion into Western markets, but the steep course he was supposed to take has proven unsustainable. While European sales are declining for the fifth consecutive month, sales in the US domestic market are also declining in 2025. The Cybertruck, which launched as a beacon of hope in the US, is currently considered a complete flop due to numerous technical defects and a relentless wave of recalls.

Tesla's robotaxi service, which has just launched in Austin, is expected to double the company's stock value in the medium term. However, just a few days after its launch in the Texas capital, it's clear: Tesla is technologically far behind its robotaxi competitor Waymo. While the Tesla Model Y vehicles, which operate as robotaxi vehicles in a tightly defined area without complex traffic intersections, have not had any accidents so far, they appear to have problems, among other things, recognizing double solid lines, which they cross in videos posted by social media users.

Market perceptions have changed – investors have long viewed Elon Musk's bold announcements with skepticism. They are now factoring the sometimes massive exaggerations into their forecasts. For Tesla, Afshar's dismissal comes at a particularly inopportune time – just days before the end of the second quarter, in which a decline in global deliveries is expected. Experts estimate that Tesla's global sales figures could fall by more than 10 percent this quarter. In China, the world's largest market for electric cars, Tesla recently recorded a decline of 15 percent. These are alarming figures for a company that was once considered the undisputed number one among electric car manufacturers.

Why has Tesla's dream faltered now, of all times? One reason could be the increasingly fierce competition from China. Companies like BYD are putting Tesla under increasing pressure, and the competition isn't sleeping – the growing market for affordable electric vehicles and the sometimes aggressive pricing of rivals like Volkswagen and BMW are narrowing the gap to the leading electric brand. Moreover, Musk's support for personnel-cutting programs in the US government has apparently angered some of his US customers and irritated fans around the world.

Another reason for Tesla's declining sales could be that Elon Musk is focusing too much on visions of the future, such as robotaxis and humanoid robots, instead of further strengthening the brand's core competency – building electric vehicles. Visions don't seem to be selling as well as actual products at the moment.

Neither Tesla nor Omead Afshar have commented on the matter so far.