Overview
- Awasthi announced his departure on X and LinkedIn, noting he led Cybertruck from engineering into production and took over the Model 3 program in July.
- Tesla has not named a replacement for the Cybertruck or Model 3 roles, creating a leadership gap during a sensitive phase for manufacturing and planning.
- Cybertruck demand remains soft, with U.S. Q3 sales at 5,385 and roughly 16,000 year to date, as Tesla has offered discounts on inventory vehicles.
- The pickup has faced multiple large recalls, including an NHTSA action covering about 46,000 vehicles and a separate Tesla recall of more than 63,000 for headlight brightness, plus a recent fix affecting about 6,200 light bars.
- Analysts expect Q4 deliveries to weaken after the $7,500 U.S. EV tax credit expired on Oct. 1, while Elon Musk’s prior 200,000–250,000 annual production goal remains far above current sales levels; Awasthi’s exit adds to a 2025 wave of senior departures.