Tesla axes S’pore country manager as part of global layoff – to “cut about 10% of workforce”

Last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk expressed in an email to its executives that he has a “super bad feeling” about the economy and wants to cut about 10 per cent of its global workforce as it has become “overstaffed in many areas”.

The email came two days after he told his employees to return to the office, or leave the company. According to its annual SEC filing, Tesla had employed around 100,000 people at the end of 2021.

Following the announcement about the global job cuts, Tesla Singapore’s country manager, Christoper Bousigues, has since been laid off. Tesla first started hiring for this role back in July 2020.

“Tesla announced a 10 per cent of workforce reduction. My role was chosen to be eliminated as of today. Am proud to have been the company’s first country manager in Southeast Asia, and establishing the business in Singapore,” he said in a LinkedIn post on Saturday.

In the post, he also detailed how his team has helped build the business from the ground-up in Singapore — made the “Model 3 a common sight in the Singapore car landscape, set up two showrooms (and) one service centre, developed a network of seven superchargers across the island, and successfully launched Model Y yesterday with overwhelming response.”

He went on to thank those that have supported him in this journey thus far, and strongly believes that another opportunity will open up for him.

He had relocated to Singapore strictly for this role, and is now contemplating to move back to Europe and Southern France with his family.

Sources familiar with the matter told The Straits Times that Tesla Singapore will no longer have a country manager. Instead, the plan is for Tesla’s Hong Kong office to oversee operations here.

Featured Image Credit: Forbes