Tesla loses major executives, including Cybertruck chief

Tesla is having a very tough year. Sales are down, the brand has been tarnished in the eyes of some customers by its CEO Elon Musk, tax credit incentives that brought in consumers have now expired — what else can go wrong?

How about two major program managers leaving the company in a single day?

On Monday, two Tesla executives who headed up major product initiatives separately announced that they were leaving the company: One who leads the Cybertruck program and one who leads the Model Y program.

Siddhant Awasthi, head of Tesla's Cybertruck program, announced on LinkedIn early Monday morning that he was departing the company. Awasthi's story is inspiring, as he first joined Tesla eight years ago and worked his way up the company ladder to finally head up Musk's vision for an EV truck.

"I recently made one of the hardest decisions of my life to leave Tesla after an incredible run," the now-former Cybertruck chief wrote on LinkedIn. "Eight years ago, when I started as an intern, I never dreamed I’d one day have the opportunity to lead the Cybertruck program and bring it to reality."

It's unclear why Awasthi has left the company and, based on his post, it does appear to be on good terms. 

However, Cybertruck has certainly not lived up to Tesla's expectations. As The Verge notes, a recent Cybertruck recall notice from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that only 63,619 Cybertrucks have been sold since the vehicle's launch in 2023. Musk once bet that the future of Tesla depended on the company selling 250,000 Cybertruck vehicles per year. Tesla is nowhere close to doing that. In fact, interest in the Cybertruck has waned since the company claimed that it received 250,000 pre-order deposits in 2019.

Awasthi was later joined in his departure from the company by Emmanuel Lamacchia, the head of Tesla's Model Y program. 

"After 8 incredible years, I'm moving on from Tesla," Lamacchia wrote on LinkedIn. "What a journey it's been... from leading NPI for  Model 3 and Model Y variants to becoming the Vehicle Program Manager for Model Y, the best-selling car in the world!"

Lamacchia, who was the Model Y chief for the past four years, did lead the team behind Tesla's most successful vehicle. So, again, it does not appear any of these departures were performance-based.

If anything, it is concerning that Tesla is losing two talented leaders at the tail end of what has been a tumultuous year for the company. Pair these departures with Tesla's sales numbers and the recent news that Tesla is now looking to roll out a rental car service for Tesla vehicles, and it looks like Tesla could be in for a very bumpy 2026 as well.