The time has come for restructuring at Tesla. And who better than one of Elon Musk’s biggest confidants to oversee the manufacturer’s operations in North America and Europe? Omead Afshar, close to the billionaire, has just been appointed vice-president in charge of sales and manufacturing in these two regions.
Meteorological rise and controversy
The 37-year-old, who studied biomedical engineering, spent about seven years at a company specializing in medical devices. He joined Tesla in 2017, working his way up to integrate the “ CEO’s office » under the direction of Elon Musk. It was this role that truly allowed him to begin his rise.
He then obtained a senior management position at the manufacturer, leading him to lead major projects such as the construction of the Gigafactory in Austin, Texas. It was while occupying this position that he found himself at the heart of a controversy in 2022. Afshar was the subject of an internal investigation into an order for glass materials deemed suspicious.
This attracted the attention of Tesla’s lawyers and board members, who investigated whether the company’s resources had been misused. They believed, at the time, that the glass was intended to build a house for Elon Musk.
The situation even led the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the American administration regulating financial markets, to open an investigation. Since then, Omead Afshar has remained very discreet at Tesla, while Musk has assured that no glass house is being built. The details of the affair still remain very vague.
Starship 🚀 + Robotaxi 🚕 + Optimus 🤖
Hard to top a week like this!
Congratulations @elonmusk & @SpaceX – chopsticks! pic.twitter.com/vJTWGFdoYt
— Omead Afshar (@omead) October 13, 2024
A pivotal moment for Tesla
This episode obviously did not prevent Musk from entrusting an essential role to his friend. A usual practice for the entrepreneur, who often surrounds himself with his most loyal associates. Moreover, Afshar has also been through SpaceX and X.com, formerly Twitter, demonstrating the confidence the leader has in him.
Significant challenges now await him in his new position. Tesla is under pressure to revive sales and reverse declining profitabilitywhich worries some analysts and investors. For his part, CEO Elon Musk is dedicating more resources to robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), two areas he sees as critical to the company’s future, a dynamic reflected by the emphasis on the robotaxi Cybercab and the humanoid Optimus.
But this pivot has not yet won over investors. Tesla stock has fallen nearly 8% since the We, Robot event on October 9. However, autonomous driving is considered a crucial transition for the billionaire.
- Omead Afshar, close to Elon Musk, now heads Tesla’s operations in North America and Europe.
- He found himself at the heart of an internal investigation in 2022.
- Afshar also held senior roles at SpaceX and X.com, formerly Twitter.
