A group of employees from electric carmaker Tesla have written an open letter to company CEO Elon Musk demanding he step down – with at least one worker claiming he was fired as a result.
The letter was posted on a website called Tesla Employees Against Elon, with the site’s homepage including the sub-head ‘Tesla is ready to move on’.
The letter, addressed to ‘Whom It May Concern’, says “Tesla is at a pivotal moment”.
“We are now at a crossroads: continue with Elon [Musk] as CEO and face further decline as customers abandon the brand, or move forward without him and allow our products and mission to succeed or fail on their own.”
“Tesla is ready to move forward. And we’re ready to move forward without Elon as CEO.”
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Neither Mr Musk nor the carmaker have publicly responded to the letter, however an account created to share the letter on social media platform ‘X’ – which Mr Musk owns – has been closed but remains on other platforms.
The public complaint comes following rumours Tesla board members were canvassing for a replacement CEO amid claims of dissatisfaction and suggestions Mr Musk had been distracted from the car maker.
Both Tesla and Mr Musk emphatically denied any plans he’d be replaced – or stepping down – as Tesla CEO.
While Mr Musk is also the CEO of SpaceX – having handed over the CEO role of X to Linda Yaccarino in June 2023 – the primary concern was around the impact of the Tesla chief’s prominent position as a ‘special government employee’ under US President Donald Trump.
Mr Musk’s role in the administration of President Trump – who was inaugurated on 20 January 2025 – coincided with Tesla suffering dramatic sales slides globally.
The brand posted its first annual sales fall in its history during the 2024 calendar year, and while it was one per cent it came against eight per cent sales growth for EVs.
The annus horribilis led into even bigger slumps in Europe, China, Australia and even in the US in the first three months of 2025 with Chinese rival BYD surging ahead in the global sales race.
The biggest slumps for Tesla occurred in Europe, with consecutive monthly sales falls in Germany seeing it 45.9 per cent down year-on-year by the end of April, with Tesla’s UK sales down 62.0 per cent.
Tesla Australia sales were down 76 per cent year-on-year in April 2025.
“This is not because our cars got worse,” the open letter said.
“Not because of affordability issues. But because people no longer want to associate with Elon. That’s it. That’s the truth.”
Mr Musk – who predicted a 20 to 30 per cent sales increase for 2025 – claimed he would give full attention to Tesla with his government role due to end on May 30, 2025 as legally required.
The employees behind the new site are sceptical of Mr Musk’s claims.
“Elon’s recent claim that he is “refocusing” on Tesla is not only tone-deaf, it’s insulting,” the letter reads.
“It implies that the hardships of the past six months stem from a lack of his attention, not from his actions. It shifts the blame onto the very people who have held this company together.
“Let’s be clear: we are not the problem. Our products are not the problem. Our engineering, service, and delivery teams are not the problem. The problem is demand. The problem is Elon.”
According to Fortune, one of the authors of the letter – Matthew LaBrot – has lost his job as a result.
“I believe in Tesla’s mission more than I fear its CEO,” Mr LaBrot wrote on LinkedIn – as reported by Fortune – after claiming he lost his ‘dream job’ of six years for his criticism of the Tesla CEO.
Tesla Australia told CarExpert it is not focussed on Mr Musk, but is instead determined to get customers into the facelifted Model Y SUV, an update of the best-selling EV in both the world and Australia in 2024.
The carmaker is also planning to introduce more affordable versions of the Model Y – scrapping plans for a stand-alone cut-price entry-level model – as well as rolling out its robotaxi fleet in the US.
Yet challenges remain, with the robotaxi program – set to be introduced as a paid service taking customers in Austin, Texas, in June – now being probed by the US safety body NHTSA (the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).
NHTSA – a department Mr Musk had proposed to cut funding to in his government role – has asked Tesla to provide more assurances on the performance of the Cybercab fully autonomous taxis in poor weather conditions.
It may yet see further delays, impacting the rollout and Tesla’s ongoing performance.
