On a day when Tesla’s share price plunged 10% from its highs intraday after Musk tried to spin his missed Model 3 deadline as a win, the company has confirmed that its chief engineer Doug Field is leaving the company.
Oops…
Field, who “had been taking time off to recharge and spend time with his family” after Elon Musk took over production responsibilities during the ramping up of the Model 3 sedan…
About a year ago, I asked Doug to manage both engineering & production. He agreed that Tesla needed eng & prod better aligned, so we don’t design cars that are crazy hard to build. Right now, tho, better to divide & conquer, so I’m back to sleeping at factory. Car biz is hell …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2018
is now officially gone.
“After almost five years at Tesla, Doug Field is moving on. We’d like to thank Doug for his hard work over the years and for everything he has done for Tesla,” the company says in an emailed statement
As we noted previously, Field has been a “key leader at the Silicon Valley auto maker since joining in 2013 from Apple” according to the WSJ and oversees all engineering of Tesla’s vehicles. As noted above, that changed this spring when Chief Executive Elon Musk said he retook control of production.
Ironically, the hiring of Field from Apple, where he was vice president of Mac hardware engineering, was touted as a win for Mr. Musk, who had big ambitions for Tesla. Field had also worked at Ford Motor and Segway, giving him unique experience in both the tech and autos industry.
When Field first joined Tesla, he said driving a Tesla for the first time “was like using the first Mac with a mouse. He knew that eventually everyone would want to drive one.”
The latest SEC filing shows Field sold over $1 million in Tesla shares.
So they have no chief engineer and production is being done under a tent – so 7k next should be no problem, right?
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