Forbes has reported that Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, has terminated Omead Afshar, the vice president responsible for sales and manufacturing in North America and Europe.

The reason for Musk’s termination of Afshar, who was one of his closest confidants and most trusted employees at the company, remains unknown.

Requests for comment from Afshar, Musk, and Tesla were not responded to. Bloomberg News was the first to disclose Afshar’s departure.

Afshar was expressing his support for the limited deployment of Tesla’s robotaxi service in Austin, Texas as recently as Tuesday.

On June 23, he wrote on X, the social media platform owned by his former employer, “Absolutely historic day for Tesla.” “Thank you, Elon, for pushing us all!”

Tesla’s sales growth has stagnated; in 2024, it sold fewer vehicles than it did in 2023, marking the first annual decline since the company began mass-producing electric vehicles (EVs) over a decade ago.

The company’s sales have been struggling throughout the first half of 2025, despite Musk’s recent announcement that he would be departing the Trump administration.

In the first quarter, the company’s industry-leading profits decreased by 71% year-over-year, and European sales declined by nearly 28% year-over-year in May.

Tesla will report global delivery figures for the second quarter next week, and financial results for the period in mid-July.

Tesla’s executive, Afshar, was not particularly public-facing. He joined the company in 2017 and spent years working in the “office of the CEO.”

Since then, he has assumed progressively more responsibility; Musk has previously acknowledged Afshar’s role in the construction of Tesla’s expansive factory in Austin, Texas.

However, Afshar soon found himself in hot water. In 2022, he was the subject of an internal investigation after it was alleged that he was involved in a plan to purchase special material for a glass building that Musk reportedly desired.

The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating those purchases in 2023.

Afshar reportedly was affiliated with X for a period of time during that time period. Musk promoted him to the position of vice president in late 2024 after another senior executive, Tom Zhu, returned to China.

Additionally, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that Jenna Ferrua, Tesla’s director of HR for North America, has departed the company. A request for comment was not promptly responded to..