The Head of the Cybertruck Program Give up Tesla. The Mannequin Y Chief Left Hours Later

If we assume for a second that Tesla’s current gross sales declines are totally as a consequence of defective administration, particularly attributable to folks with the job title “program supervisor,” then Tesla is properly in its method to large enhancements. The Cybertruck program supervisor—who additionally managed the Mannequin 3—simply exited the corporate, adopted simply hours later by the Mannequin Y program supervisor.

Within the third quarter of this yr, Tesla sold 5,385 Cybertrucks, a 63% drop from the same point in 2024. In response to an October story in Electrek, Musk’s firms SpaceX and xAI are shopping for up extra Cybertruck stock. There was a recall last month of 63,000 Cybertrucks because of the headlights being too intense, and that got here after the extra infamous March recall of 46,000 Cybertrucks after an embarrassing mishap saved occurring the place a skinny piece of ornamental Cyber-metal held on with glue saved falling off and revealing the very un-Cyber-car guts beneath.

“I just lately made one of many hardest selections of my life,” wrote former Cybertruck program supervisor Siddhant Awasthi in a LinkedIn post on Sunday. There’s no precise rationalization for the choice simply a whole lot of reward for the corporate. And to be clear, we encountered no proof Awasthi was requested to go away. He might merely be shifting on to greener pastures. 

Awasthi notes in his publish that his signature accomplishments at Tesla occurred “all earlier than hitting 30.” Certainly, it seems that in 2017, when he was 23, he was a student at the University of Cincinnati engaged on a faculty mission associated to the Musk-led “Hyperloop” idea. The eight-year Tesla tenure Awasthi describes in his LinkedIn publish signifies that he joined Tesla round that very same time.

According to Reuters, it was solely “hours later” that Emmanuel Lamacchia, who held the identical job title as Awasthi additionally left Tesla. “What a journey it’s been,” Lamacchia’s LinkedIn publish started.

According to Car and Driver, the Mannequin Y is the bestselling EV within the nation, regardless of 2025 gross sales being down 23 % from the identical level in 2024.

Reuters’ story on Lamacchia’s exit notes that “a number of senior program managers” have left Tesla over the previous yr. A type of, David Zhang, led the Mannequin S and Mannequin X applications.

Gizmodo requested Tesla why Awasthi and Lamacchia left the corporate, and can replace if we hear again.

Late final month on a rambling Tesla earnings name, Elon Musk mentioned “corporate terrorists” would possibly stand in the way in which of shareholders pledging to award him a pay package deal that will make him a trillionaire. However shareholders ended up making that pledge after all and now he’ll be a trillionaire if Tesla accomplishes a sure set of targets.

A few of these targets contain promoting vehicles, however most contain transitioning Tesla into the futuristic, automation-and-robots firm Elon Musk has been promising recently—targets like deploying 1 million robotaxis and 1 million humanoid robots. Presumably Tesla and Musk will want daring and competent program managers to perform these feats on his behalf.