Omead Afshar, Tesla’s vice president in charge of sales and manufacturing in North America and Europe, has reportedly been fired by CEO Elon Musk, according to Forbes.
It’s not immediately known why Musk fired Afshar, who was one of his top lieutenants and closest confidants at the company. Afshar, Musk, and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment. Afshar’s departure was first reported by Bloomberg News.
As recently as Tuesday, Afshar was posting support for the limited rollout of Tesla’s robotaxi service in Austin, Texas. “Absolutely historic day for Tesla,” he wrote on June 23 on X, the social media platform his former boss owns. “Thank you, Elon, for pushing us all!”
His departure comes at a time when the company’s sales growth has vanished. Tesla sold fewer cars in 2024 than it did in 2023, the first annual drop since it started mass-producing EVs more than a decade ago.
Musk’s involvement in U.S. politics has not helped, despite his recent pledge that he was leaving the Trump administration. Sales continued to struggle through the first half of 2025. The company’s industry-leading profits fell 71% year-over-year in the first quarter. European sales fell nearly 28% percent year-over-year in May. Tesla will report global delivery figures for the second quarter next week, and financial results for the period in mid-July.
Afshar was not a particularly public-facing executive at Tesla. He joined the company in 2017 and spent years working in the “office of the CEO.” He took on increasing responsibilities ever since; Musk has previously credited Afshar with leading the construction of Tesla’s massive factory in Austin, Texas.
Not long after that, though, Afshar found himself in hot water. In 2022 he became the subject of an internal probe after he was allegedly involved in a plan to purchase special material for a glass building Musk reportedly wanted. Both the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating those purchases in 2023.
During some of that time period, Afshar moved over to SpaceX and reportedly was involved with X for a while. Musk elevated him to the role of vice president in late 2024 after another top executive, Tom Zhu, moved back to China.
Bloomberg News also reported Thursday that Tesla’s director of HR for North America, Jenna Ferrua, is no longer with the company. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
