On June 26th, Interface News learned from several former Tesla employees that a small number of Tesla China departments are rehiring some laid-off employees, mostly in the sales and service sectors.
Two months ago, Tesla launched its largest layoffs globally since 2017, with a proportion of over 14%. The sales and service department in China is one of the hardest hit areas.
A former Tesla sales system employee told Interface News that some supermarkets with significant layoffs only retain teams of 5 to 6 people, which is not conducive to the normal operation of the stores. Normally, the number of employees in Tesla supermarkets should be between 8 and 9.
However, some Tesla Chinese employees who have been laid off are not very interested in this rehire. Interface News has noticed on social media that some Tesla China sales, which have been affected by layoffs, have entered brands such as NIO and are starting new jobs.
This is not Tesla's first time rehiring or dismissing an employee. In May of this year, shortly after Tesla CEO Elon Musk laid off nearly 500 employees from the supercharging station team, Tesla rehired these employees, including North American Charging Business Director Max DeZeger.
According to overseas media reports, Tesla's North American region has resumed recruitment and has released hundreds of new positions, involving multiple departments such as artificial intelligence and robotics, manufacturing, supply chain, and operations. However, Tesla China's official recruitment page only has a small number of internship positions.
A more positive signal for the Tesla China team is the return of Tesla Senior Vice President Zhu Xiaotong. This executive, who played the role of "firefighting captain" and was transferred to the US headquarters, returned to the familiar battlefield once again amidst the decline in sales in the China region.
According to Interface News, Zhu Xiaotong has been conducting more store tours in the first tier recently to understand the market situation. Although he did not make drastic reforms in the terminal, his return to the team has to some extent stabilized the morale of the team and improved the morale of frontline soldiers. Tesla China's sales reached 17000 units last week, returning to its best week of the quarter.
Tesla China is still cracking down on fake orders from sales personnel. Unlike traditional joint venture brands that assess employees based on multiple dimensions such as number of visits, test drives, orders, and deliveries, Tesla is result oriented and only focuses on the number of orders received by sales personnel.
The former Tesla employee mentioned above told Interface News that the Tesla sales team evaluates performance on a monthly basis and settles salaries based on the ranking of orders for the same position in the region. Employees in the top 5% of orders can receive 3.5 times their performance-based salary. Under high incentives, it is easy for some employees to create false orders in order to achieve higher rankings.
At the same time, it has become more difficult for Tesla sales to sell cars. In the past, this global leader in pure electric vehicles attracted consumers to place orders with its cutting-edge products and unique brand influence. However, many competitors such as Xiaopeng and Xiaomi have developed benchmark models, gradually eroding Tesla's market share in China.
According to sales data, Tesla China's sales in May were 72600 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 6.6%. On a global scale, Tesla delivered 386800 vehicles in the first quarter, marking the first year-on-year decline in single quarter delivery in nearly four years and the worst performance in the past five quarters.
Wall Street analysts predict that Tesla's delivery volume in the second quarter may continue to be lower than the 466000 vehicles delivered in the same period last year, especially with significant fluctuations in the European market. According to overseas data statistics, Tesla's delivery volume in the European market has decreased by more than 60000 vehicles in 2024.
According to Musk, Tesla is currently between two major growth waves, and the next wave of growth will only be triggered when a new generation of models is introduced. At this year's shareholder meeting, Tesla announced that it is developing three new cars, including Robotaxi and affordable electric vehicles.
It is possible that Tesla auto drive system (FSD) will land in China faster than new models. During Musk's visit to China at the end of April this year, Tesla reached a cooperation agreement with regulatory agencies and Baidu, granting him a map license to collect data on public roads in China. According to Caixin, the Shanghai Autonomous Driving Demonstration Zone has issued road test licenses to Tesla, and FSD may be undergoing testing.