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Longtime Musk ally had key roles in North America and

Europe

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Departure follows other high-profile exits at Tesla over

past

year-and-a-half

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Tesla faces declining EV sales, pressure to deliver

robotaxis

(Updates with additional background, sourcing)

By Alexandra Ulmer, Abhirup Roy, Chris Kirkham and Rachael

Levy

June 26 (Reuters) - Tesla executive and

longtime Elon Musk confidant Omead Afshar has left the

electric-vehicle maker, three people familiar with the matter

said on Thursday, another senior departure as the company

grapples with slowing global demand.

Afshar was part of the CEO's office and since last year had

overseen sales and manufacturing in Europe and North America.

After joining Tesla in 2017, he quickly became one of Musk's

trusted lieutenants, playing a central role in major projects

like the Texas Gigafactory.

The sources, who declined to be identified, had no details

on the circumstances of his exit or the reason behind it. Afshar

posted about Tesla on X early this week, and his profiles on X

and LinkedIn still showed his Tesla role as current on

Wednesday.

Afshar departed amid slumping demand in Europe and North

America for Tesla's aging vehicle line-up while rivals have

offered more affordable alternatives.

Two people familiar with Tesla's operations said Afshar was

among the executives who took on bigger roles this year when

Musk was focused on Washington.

Musk led President Donald Trump's government cost-cutting

drive this year, and many investors and analysts worried that

distracted Musk from Tesla and alienated some potential buyers.

Former mid-level Tesla sales manager Matthew LaBrot, who was

recently fired for public criticism of Musk, said Afshar was a

"supporting character" closely tied to Musk until he rose to

head sales and manufacturing in North America and Europe.

LaBrot said there was significant pressure internally to

deal with the sales declines, which have been particularly

severe in Europe.

Afshar's departure was reported earlier by Bloomberg News,

which also reported that North America HR Director Jenna Ferrua

had exited the company. Two of the three people who confirmed

Afshar's departure to Reuters also said Ferrua had left.

One of those people said Afshar and Ferrua were close

colleagues, so it was not surprising that both left around the

same time. Another of the people said Ferrua has served as a

direct HR adviser to Afshar.

The departure caps a series of executive exits over the past

14 months, driven by company-wide restructuring as Tesla slashed

thousands of jobs and shifted its focus to AI-powered

self-driving technology and robotics.

The departures included leaders in robots, batteries and

public policy. The head of Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot team,

Milan Kovac, announced he was leaving this month, and top

battery executive Vineet Mehta did so in May.

Chief battery engineer Drew Baglino, Rebecca Tinucci, who

led the supercharging division, and global public policy head

Rohan Patel left in spring 2024.

Musk ended his Washington stint in late May, reassuring some

investors concerned about brand damage. But Tesla's shares

remain down about 19% for the year, after an initial rise on

optimism that Trump's victory would clear the regulatory path

for robotaxis.

On Sunday, Tesla deployed self-driving taxis in Austin,

Texas. Some analysts have warned that the company's plan to

expand to other cities later this year could face hurdles, due

to concerns about safety and the technology.

On Monday, Afshar posted on X that the Austin robotaxi debut was

an "absolutely historic day for Tesla," adding: "Thank you,

Elon, for pushing us all!"

In the past, Afshar posted about spending holidays and late

nights with Musk, particularly when Tesla was ramping up

production of the mass-market Model 3 sedan in 2018. He

reflected in a March post about "living in the factory at this

time, truly 24/7."