Elon Musk Email Urges Tesla Employees to Help with Vehicle Deliveries

In a recently leaked internal email, Tesla CEO Elon Musk can be seen asking employees to help with the delivery of Tesla vehicles regardless of their role at the company.

CNBC reports that Tesla CEO Elon Musk is encouraging all company employees to help with the delivery of Tesla vehicles regardless of their role. This often happens as Tesla attempts to meet quarter-end goals and with fewer employees at the company since the end of the fourth quarter of 2018 due to layoffs, Tesla needs all hands on deck.

Tesla has not revealed the exact number of employees let go from the company but a spokesperson told CNBC that as of the week of March 4, Tesla employed 40,000 people. The company stated in its 2018 annual report that it employed 48,817 workers. In a tweet from September, Musk admitted that Tesla was suffering from delivery issues stating: “Sorry, we’ve gone from production hell to delivery logistics hell, but this problem is far more tractable. We’re making rapid progress. Should be solved shortly.”

But in a recent email to employees, Musk stated that delivery problems were a “good one to have.” He stated: “This is the biggest wave in Tesla’s history, but it is primarily a function of our first delivery of mass manufactured cars on two continents simultaneously, and will not be repeated in subsequent quarters.” Musk blamed many of the issues on increased deliveries to Europe and China stating: “What has made this particularly difficult is that Europe and China are simultaneously experiencing the same massive increase in delivery volume that North America experienced last year.”

Read Musk’s email in full below:

From: Elon Musk

To: Everybody

Subj. Vehicle Delivery Help Needed!

March 21, 2019

For the last ten days of this quarter, please consider your primary priority to be helping with vehicle deliveries. This applies to everyone. As challenges go, this is a good one to have, as we’ve built the cars and people have bought the cars, so we just need to get the cars to their new owners!

What has made this particularly difficult is that Europe and China are simultaneously experiencing the same massive increase in delivery volume that North America experienced last year. In some locations, the delivery rate is over 600% higher than its previous peak! This was further exacerbated by supplier shortages of EU spec components and a sticker printing error on our part in China that were only resolved in the past few weeks.

North America is also stressed, as the final month of this quarter is almost all North America builds. Moreover, for the first two weeks of March, most cars were sent from our factory in California to the East Coast to ensure arrival before the end of quarter.

The net result is a massive wave of deliveries needed throughout Europe, China and North America. This is the biggest wave in Tesla’s history, but it is primarily a function of our first delivery of mass manufactured cars on two continents simultaneously, and will not be repeated in subsequent quarters.

To help, please contact Sanjay Shah in North America, Robin Ren in China and Ashley Harris in Europe.

How Tesla fared in the first quarter will not be known until April.