Palo Alto electric-car maker Tesla Motors (TSLA) slid 19 percent Friday after the company said both its chief engineer and director of chassis engineering for the Model S luxury car left the company just months before the rechargeable sedan goes on sale.
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Peter Rawlinson, Tesla's vice president and chief engineer, and Nick Sampson, who supervised vehicle and chassis engineering, departed this month, Ricardo Reyes, a company spokesman, said in an emailed statement Friday.
Reyes said.
"Having completed conceptual and design engineering work on Model S, Peter has decided to step away to tend to personal matters in the U.K."
Sampson had "fully transitioned" off the Model S at the time of his departure, Reyes said without elaborating.
Tesla, recipient of a $465 million U.S. loan to build its rechargeable models at the former NUMMI plant in Fremont, plans to begin producing and selling Model S cars by midyear. The company last month said initial versions, able to travel as far as 300 miles per charge, will sell for as much as $92,400 before a $7,500 tax credit.
Jim Hall, principal of 2953 Analytics, an automotive-consulting firm said.
"It may be for personal reasons, but it doesn't look good. And for Tesla, looks are very important at this point."
Tesla tumbled to $22.79 at the close in New York, the biggest slide since the shares began trading on June 29, 2010. The stock rebounded to $24.45 in after-hours trading.
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Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO and biggest shareholder, said in an emailed statement.
"The uncertainty around Model S is now much diminished, as anyone who has seen the beta vehicles and toured the factory will appreciate. There is no question in my mind that we will start delivering vehicles in July, if not sooner."
Jerome Guillen, formerly an engineer with Daimler, will assume Rawlinson's duties, and Tesla hired a former Volkswagen executive, Eric Bach, Musk said.
Musk said.
"Bach was head of small-vehicle programs at VW and has a lot of high-volume expertise, to help in the final stretch of bringing Model S into production. Eric reports to Jerome."
Rawlinson, a former chief engineer at U.K.-based sports-car maker Lotus and head of vehicle engineering at consulting firm Corus Automotive, joined Tesla in 2009.
Sampson, who joined Tesla in 2010, previously worked for Lotus and Jaguar.
Tesla investors included Daimler, Toyota and Panasonic.
COMMENTARY: In a blog article dated December 27, 2011, I reported on Tesla Motors prices for their new Model S sports sedan, so these two resignations are definitely quite surprising. I don't want to add to the mystery or speculate too much as to why two top executives working for Tesla Motors would leave almost at the same time for "personal reasons." When I hear "personal reasons," people are generally hiding something they don't want you to know. They were either fired or quit over some kind of disagreement. Perhaps they knew or discovered something that was so incredible that they chose to leave Tesla before the public finds out. It's hard to believe that they are leaving literally within a few months when the first Tesla Miodel S sports sedans are scheduled to roll off the assembly line. It's a shame that after all their work, they would not remain until after the Model S shipments begin. Whatever their "personal reasons" for leaving, Elon Musk should've taken measure to minimize the negative impact these key departures would have on Tesla Motor's stock. I'm sure the stockholders are not very happy about it, and there will be even more speculation on Monday morning.
Courtesy of an article dated January 13, 2012 appearing in MercuryNews.com
TESLA is one of the best car company. I'm confident they could find solution to this.
Posted by: NRG Quick Release | 04/01/2012 at 10:43 AM
I've always wanted a rechargeable Sedan. This is quite a cool model from Tesla. Hmmm... I hope Tesla can immediately come up with a strategy to increase their sales.
Posted by: Erwin Calverley | 02/03/2012 at 02:27 PM