After selling only half of projected vehicle sales, Tesla has reported that it will be cutting jobs in China. The amount of jobs in question is still unclear, but local newspapers are indicating that 180 to as many as 600 employees may lose their jobs. Though these numbers have not been confirmed by Tesla.
The cuts are coming after a particularly bad year of sales in China. According to The Wall Street Journal Tesla was hoping to sell 5,000 cars in China, but the company reported selling just under 2,500 cars. The company is accrediting the disappointing sales to a few reasons, but none as predominant as the lack of charging stations.
CEO Elon Musk explained that, "there was a misconception that charging was difficult." Coupled, with the fact that urban residents often do not have access to private garages so they believed they wouldn’t be able to charge their car from home.
In order to combat this issue, Tesla has begun to invest in building charging stations in China.
Charging was not the only issue, however. The company also experienced a fair amount of turmoil on the corporate side of things in 2014. Veronica WU, the former President of Tesla China left the company, as well as the vice president of communications, June Jin.
Telsa isn’t going to give up on China just yet. According to the Verge, the company is building revival plans around the launch of their electric SUV — the Tesla Model X – this summer.
