Elon Musk culls 14,000 jobs at Tesla due to fall in demand for electric cars

Tesla has reported its first fall in sales in almost four years

The electric car company, of which Musk is the CEO, is the world’s most valuable automaker and one of the most valuable companies in the world.

But Tesla has been hit by reduced demand for electric vehicles (EVs) recently, forcing job cuts at the company.

Musk has culled some 14,000 jobs from Tesla's global workforce, telling staff this "must be done."

In a statement, he said: "We have done a thorough review of the organisation and made the difficult decision to reduce our headcount by more than 10 per cent globally. 

"There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done. This will enable us to be lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase cycle."

Of Tesla's 140,000 employees across the globe, roughly 1,000 are based in the UK, so the job losses could affect Brits.

This month, Tesla reported its first fall in car sales in four years. The manufacturer sold 386,810 vehicles in the three months to the end of March, which was 13 per cent lower than market expectations, the Guardian reports.

Although this keeps the company as the world's top seller of electric cars, the total is down by more than 20 per cent on the previous quarter, and roughly nine per cent less than the same period last year.

After sales figures were released this month, Musk said it had been a "tough quarter for everyone" in the EV industry, pointing out that Tesla's Chinese rival BYD had published similarly poor figures.

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