Tesla Stock Drops as Another Top Executive Leaves

Tesla sold 4,306 Cybertrucks in the U.S. during the second quarter, down 51% from a year ago, according to data provider Cox Automotive. (Dreamstime)

Tesla stock tumbled Tuesday following a report that said one of the company’s sales executives had departed.

With CEO Elon Musk spending more time at Tesla and less time in Washington, heads are starting to roll.

Shares of the EV maker traded as high as $321.20, pushing Tesla’s market value back above $1 trillion, but ended the day down 1.9%, closing at $310.78. The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Troy Jones, Tesla’s vice president of sales, service, and delivery in North America, had left the company. The news comes less than a month after the exit of Omead Afshar, an aide to Musk.

The S&P 500 finished down 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1%.

Jones’ LinkedIn page still shows him working at the company. Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for clarification from Barron’s.

To be sure, Tesla loses executives from time to time. And its position as the world’s most valuable auto maker and, frankly, Musk himself, ensure extra scrutiny. Jones, however, doesn’t appear in Tesla’s annual filings, like other senior executives.

Jones was a long-tenured employee, having worked at Tesla since 2010. The most recent departure of a senior executive was CFO Zachary Kirkhorn, who departed in 2023.

Still, it’s the second sales-linked departure in recent days. Afshar’s role was in North American sales and manufacturing. Both come on the heels of Musk spending less time in Washington, D.C., as an advisor to the administration on cutting government spending and staffing.

Musk’s foray into politics came at a difficult time for the EV maker. Sales in the first half of the year dipped 13%. At the start of the year, Wall Street expected 2025 sales of about 2.1 million cars, according to FactSet. That estimate now is closer to 1.7 million vehicles, down from 1.8 million shipped in 2024.

Tesla’s sales declines have also come amid a slowdown in U.S. EV sales. Monday, Cox Automotive released its second-quarter U.S. EV report. Sales landed at about 311,000 vehicles, down 6% from a year ago. It was the first quarterly decline looking back to 2021, the earliest report Barron’s examined. Cox says it was the third quarterly decline on record.

Created with Highcharts 9.0.1U.S. Electric Vehicle Sales Source: Cox Automotive

Created with Highcharts 9.0.1Non TeslaTeslaQ3 21Q2 23Q2 25050,000100,000150,000200,000250,000300,000350,000400,000 vehicles

Tesla’s U.S. sales dropped 13% from a year ago, worse than the 9% drop in the first quarter. Sales of the updated Model Y, however, rebounded, landing at about 86,000 vehicles, up from 64,000 in the first quarter.

Musk and any new executives will need to arrest the sales decline. Some improvement is likely in the third quarter. President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminates federal EV purchase tax credits in September, giving people a reason to buy before then. The fourth quarter, however, is another story.

“Q3 will likely be a record, followed by a collapse in Q4, as the electric vehicle market adjusts to its new reality,” said Stephanie Valdez Streaty, senior analyst at Cox Automotive, in a news release. “With government-backed incentives set to end in September and economic pressures mounting, the second half of the year will be a critical test of EV demand.”

New markets can help Tesla. It recently started selling its Model Y in India for about 6 million rupees ($70,000). Tesla is also expected to launch a lower-price vehicle in the second half of the year. No one, however, has seen details of that vehicle yet.

A third-quarter boost aside, the data show U.S. EV sales are flattening out. They accounted for about 7% of all new car sales in the second quarter, down from a peak of almost 9% in the third quarter of 2024.

Flat sales are a challenge for Tesla, and they might be frustrating for Musk, based on recent management turnover. Investors will have a chance to hear from Musk when Tesla reports second-quarter earnings on July 23.

Coming into Tuesday trading, Tesla stock was down about 22% so far this year.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com