--- title: "Top Execs Fleeing Tesla as Dark Clouds Grow" description: "Yet another top executive has left Tesla as the automaker suffers plummeting sales and a plunging stock price." date: "2025-07-16" modified: "2025-07-16" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/top-execs-fleeing-tesla" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Tesla" tags: - "elon musk" - "evs" - "robotaxis" - "tesla" --- # Top Execs Fleeing Tesla as Dark Clouds Grow ![Yet another top executive has left Tesla as the automaker suffers plummeting sales and a plunging stock price.]() *\Image: Jim Watson / AFP via Getty / Futurism\* Another top executive has quit Tesla as the automaker continues a dicey and high-stakes spiral. The [*Wall Street Journal* reports]() that Troy Jones, Tesla's vice president of sales, service and delivery in North America — its largest market — suddenly packed his bags after 15 years at the company. It's unclear at this point if the decision was his; at Tesla, heads can roll depending on the [whims of CEO Elon Musk](). Jones' exit comes during a particularly tumultuous time for the EV brand, which is suffering faltering sales and a plunging stock price as Musk continues to be a deeply polarizing figure with extreme politics. Hinting at turmoil behind the scenes, it's also less than a month after Musk [fired one of his closest confidantes](), Omead Afshar, who was serving as vice president of manufacturing and operations before getting the axe in June. Afshar, who joined Tesla in 2017 as an engineer, was promoted to the position last October to oversee sales and manufacturing in North America and Europe, two markets where the backlash against Musk's role in the Trump administration has been the most intense. Mere weeks before Afshar's departure, Milan Kovac, who was in charge of Tesla's humanoid robot division Optimus, also left the company. Musk thanked Kovac for his time at Tesla, a courtesy he hasn't extended to others who have recently departed. Jenna Ferrua, a human resources director for North America, also left Tesla around the time of Afshar's departure. There are signs of upheaval at Musk's other ventures, too. Last week, Linda Yaccarino [suddenly departed her post]() as CEO of X, Musk's social media platform. Her decision followed almost immediately after the site's integrated chatbot, Grok, went on [racist tirades]() railing against Black and Jewish people, praising Nazis, and calling itself "MechaHitler." Whatever their reasons for leaving, the ex-Tesla execs bailed a ship that, if it's not outright sinking, is taking on alarming amounts of water. Off the back of its first-ever annual decline in revenue last year, Tesla sales have [plunged for five straight months]() in Europe and in the US [plummeted]() by nine percent in the first three months of 2025. This has been reflected in its stock position, with its shares down by over 15 percent this year. The automaker has been caught in the blast radius of Musk's reputational meltdown, facing mass protests and targeted acts of vandalism in response to his eager gutting of the federal government while working with the Trump administration. But to ascribe Tesla's plight to a mere image problem wouldn't do justice to its heap of other issues. Critics have pointed to its aging vehicle lineup for one reason why sales have dried up, with its recently refreshed Model Y failing to inspire customers — illustrated by the [desperate financing deals]() that Tesla is offering, on top of [slashing]() the vehicle's price. The recent launch of a small-scale robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, meanwhile, [hasn't made a convincing case]() that Musk's vision of [boldly staking Tesla's future]() on offering autonomous cab rides will rake in the trillions of dollars of money that [he promised]() any time soon. And all the while, it's facing steeper competition than ever from Chinese competitors like BYD, which has overtaken Tesla as the [largest EV company in the world](). **More on Tesla:** *[A Clear Sign Just Emerged That Tesla Is Panicking]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()