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Tesla’s long-time head of sales in North America is out
Tesla’s long-time head of sales in North America, Troy Jones, has reportedly left the automaker amid demand problems.
The Wall Street Journal reported the departure today:
Troy Jones, vice president of sales, service and delivery in Tesla’s largest market, has departed after 15 years at the electric-car company, the people said.
Jones had been at Tesla since 2010 and he had several leadership positions in sales in North America.
For the past five years or so, he has been regarded as the leader of Tesla’s retail effort in the US.
His departure from the company follows the reported firing of Omead Afshar, who was Elon Musk’s right-hand man and had recently been promoted to head of North American and European operations.
Tesla appears to be completely changing its leadership in sales in North America and Europe.
Musk has reportedly taken direct responsibility for Tesla sales in those markets following Afshar’s departure.
Meanwhile, Tesla is also suffering from a significant talent exodus since a mass wave of layoffs last year has significantly affected morale.
Jenna Ferrua, Tesla’s head of HR in North America, recently exited the company.
Tesla also recently lost one of its top engineering executives behind energy products, along with the head of the Optimus program, its top crash safety architect, two of its top designers, its long-time head of software, and many more.
That’s just in the last few months.
Electrek’s Take
A bunch of heads are rolling over Tesla’s declining sales. All except the main one that has had a clear negative impact on sales: Elon Musk.
Tesla’s sales are down 13% in the first half of 2025 despite EV sales surging 30% globally.
When the supposedly leading EV automaker sees its sales decline amid a surging global EV market, there’s a real problem.
That problem is mainly Elon Musk who is both negatively affecting the brand and badly positioning Tesla and its EV lineup by betting the house on autonomous driving.
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