Email It looks like Elon Musk is cleaning house at Tesla starting with those at the top. Musk has fired Omead Afshar, the automaker’s vice president of manufacturing and operations, CNBC has confirmed, following declines in car sales in key markets this year. Afshar, who reported directly to Musk, led a team of more than a half-dozen high level employees, according to internal organizational charts viewed by CNBC. His reputation as an enforcer of Musk’s bold directives earned him both influence and criticism. However, in June, amid a decline in global deliveries especially in Europe and the UK, Tesla parted ways with Afshar, signaling deeper challenges within the company’s leadership. His departure marks a pivotal moment as Tesla shifts focus from vehicle production toward artificial intelligence, autonomy, and robotics. Afshar’s future role in Musk’s ventures remains uncertain. READ: Tesla launches robotaxi in Austin as Musk says company was ‘super paranoid’ about safety (June 23, 2025) Afshar played a significant leadership role at Tesla after joining in 2017, managing critical projects like the construction of Giga Texas and later took on broader responsibilities across Musk’s companies, including SpaceX and X. In October 2024, he was promoted to vice president of North American and European sales and manufacturing at Tesla, where he led major cost-cutting efforts and orchestrated mass layoffs during a period of internal restructuring. Forbes first reported that Afshar was dismissed by Musk. Afshar’s firing comes on the heels of the successful launch of Tesla’s Robotaxi line that gave Musk’s net worth a significant boost. It would seem that Musk is not crediting Afshar with the success of the Tesla Robotaxis. Bloomberg reported that Afshar was the subject of an internal investigation at Tesla in 2022, which had focused on his orders of hard-to-get construction materials, including a special kind of glass for a secretive project for Musk.