US EV maker Tesla has been in the spotlight for a while now — from Trump’s election, to Musk’s role at the White House, followed by vandalism and a global sales slump, then the quarrel between Elon Musk and Donald Trump, and finally the launch of the Robotaxis in Austin.
Amidst all the chaos, there were executives who left the company and the latest is Omead Afshar, a top-level executive at Tesla who was also Musk’s longtime confidant. While Reuters reported that Afshar left, CNBC has confirmed that he was fired, owing to a decline in car sales in global markets.
Who is Omead Afshar?
Afshar was the vice president of manufacturing and operations at Tesla, while also heading operations for North America and Europe. Often called the ‘The Musk Whisperer’, the US citizen born to Iranian parents first joined Tesla in 2017 as a Project Manager in the CEO’s office. He quickly gained Musk’s trust and climbed up the ladder.
One of his most notable achievements at Tesla was his role in setting up the 10-million-square-foot Gigafactory in Texas, which cemented Tesla as a key player in the global automotive space. In his recent role, Afshar lead a team of more than half a dozen of senior executives and reported directly to Musk.
Afshar’s role extends beyond Tesla as well, as he played a crucial role with SpaceX in 2022 when he was appointed as Vice President. He also played a crucial role in Musk’s takeover of Twitter rebranding as X, and helping the Billionaire cut costs on the social media platform and restructuring the organisation.
Omar Afshar: A quick timeline
- Student at the University of California
- Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering
- 2009: First job was as a ski instructor at Mammoth Mountain in California
- 2011: Product engineer at St. Jude Medical
- 2017: Joined Abbott Laboratories
- 2017: Joins Tesla as Project Manager
- 2022: Appointed as the Vice President of SpaceX
Controversies at Tesla
According to a Bloomberg report, Afshar was under internal investigation at Tesla in 2022 before taking up the VP position at SpaceX. There were reports that he was to part ways back then, but it did not happen.
He was under an internal investigation to acquire a special glass for a secret project for Musk — was it for the Cybertruck? However, after the stint with SpaceX, Afshar was back with Tesla as the Vice President.
His latest post on X praises Musk for the successful launch of the Robotaxis in Austin, reading “Thank you, Elon, for pushing us all!”. Afshar’s termination follows the resignation of Milan Kovac, who was the head of Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robotics program.
