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Tesla Loses Two Model S Executives Before Sedan Makes Debut

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You know, yesterday Elon tweets about "herding cats" and I thought "that's weird, must be something frustrating at work" and I damn near decided to sit on my money for a few days. Should have trusted that instinct. I feel somewhat ill. Losing the chief engineer and chassis engineer? Yea, kind of crucial elements in a car.
 
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Don't panic yet. If Elon announces a $1B deal with Toyota on the upcoming conference call, this drop will be erased in a single day. Also, I don't think the market has any idea how many reservations have been made in the 4th quarter, and we have the Model X event coming up.

No doubt, this hurts (and on my birthday too, thanks a lot). But I think the next few months still look really good.
The fact it's two at once is what really bothers me. That can't be coincidence. People don't leave like that when things are going well.
 
I wonder if they were bought out by another car maker. The fact that Tesla's technology is so far ahead of other EVs, and that the Cheif Engineer and Chassis Engineer left at the same time. Would not be surprised to see them at Nissan or GM or maybe even Fisker in the near future. If that happens, we might see some lawsuits too.

Might just be about money.
 
I just bought more options this morning!!! If I only would have waited a couple more hours I would have got them cheap! That aside, this is kind of disturbing. I mean I am sure we all want to know why??????????? This is kind of a big deal happening so close to the rollout of the S. My guess is there is good reason for it.

There are some non-prof at teslas top. They don't want to know what the customers want/need - destroying potential. I still wonder why they finally made a type 2 mennekes charging cable - after more then one year i was waiting for it.
 
I wonder if they were bought out by another car maker. The fact that Tesla's technology is so far ahead of other EVs, and that the Cheif Engineer and Chassis Engineer left at the same time. Would not be surprised to see them at Nissan or GM or maybe even Fisker in the near future. If that happens, we might see some lawsuits too.

Might just be about money.

They were destroying the value of their options.
 
From Forbes

A Tesla spokesman told Reuters that “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, Tesla added, had “fully transitioned” off the Model S at the time of his departure.

The company said Jerome Guillen, formerly an engineer with Daimler AG, will assume Rawlinson’s duties. Former Volkswagen executive Eric Bach will take over for Sampson.

TSLA in the regular session fell $5.46, or 19.3%, to $22.79; the stock has recovered a bit after hours, rebounding $1.33, or 5.8%, to $24.12.
 
Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA), the U.S. electric carmaker, said both its chief engineer and director of chassis engineering for the Model S luxury car have left the company just months before the rechargeable sedan goes on sale. Tesla shares fell as much 20 percent following the announcement.

Peter Rawlinson, Palo Alto, California-based 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 e-mailed statement.

“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.,” Reyes said. 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 a plant in Fremont, California, plans to begin building and selling Model S cars by mid-year. 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.

Jerome Guillen, formerly an engineer with Daimler AG (DAI), will assume Rawlinson’s duties and Tesla hired a former Volkswagen AG executive, Eric Bach, Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive officer, said in an e-mailed statement.

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,” Musk said. “Eric reports to Jerome.”

Rawlinson, a former chief engineer at U.K.-based sports-car maker Group Lotus Plc and head of vehicle engineering at consultancy Corus Automotive, joined Tesla in 2009.

Tesla fell 19 percent to $24.86 at 3:59 p.m. New York time, after touching $22.64, the biggest intraday slide since June 29.

this is article on bloomberg
 
The fact it's two at once is what really bothers me. That can't be coincidence. People don't leave like that when things are going well.

It may not have actually been simultaneous, and could be completely uncorrelated. Announcing them together gets the bad news out of the way in one go.

Personal reasons are entirely possible. I'm not sure how old Peter Rawlingson is, but he's obviously not a youngster and may be wanting to slow down. From all accounts it's a highly caffeinated environment at Tesla.

In terms of timing, this is probably the best time to go if he wanted to bow out. You don't leave a company in the lurch by exiting in the middle of a major project. The vast bulk of the Model S engineering is complete; right now they're polishing the details and doing the production transition. Probably the major design elements of Model X have also been completed.
 
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According to the article, one of the execs left for personal reasons, the other unknown. Both did proper handing off of work before leaving, and worthy replacements (from Daimler and Volkswagen) have already been found.

As for the stock price, that's likely just an over-reaction, like Mycroft said.

It'll definite rebound after the Model X event in February.