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Tesla scrambles after Musk sidekick exit, CEO takes over sales

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is reportedly overseeing sales in North America and Europe, Bloomberg reports.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla scrambled its executives around following the exit of CEO Elon Musk’s sidekick last week, Omead Afshar. Afshar was relieved of his duties as Head of Sales for both North America and Europe.

Bloomberg is reporting that Musk is now overseeing both regions for sales, according to sources familiar with the matter. Afshar left the company last week, likely due to slow sales in both markets, ending a seven-year term with the electric automaker.

Tesla’s Omead Afshar, known as Elon Musk’s right-hand man, leaves company: reports

Afshar was promoted to the role late last year as Musk was becoming more involved in the road to the White House with President Donald Trump.

Afshar, whose LinkedIn account stated he was working within the “Office of the CEO,” was known as Musk’s right-hand man for years.

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Additionally, Tom Zhu, currently the Senior Vice President of Automotive at Tesla, will oversee sales in Asia, according to the report.

It is a scramble by Tesla to get the company’s proven executives over the pain points the automaker has found halfway through the year. Sales are looking to be close to the 1.8 million vehicles the company delivered in both of the past two years.

Tesla is pivoting to pay more attention to the struggling automotive sales that it has felt over the past six months. Although it is still performing well and is the best-selling EV maker by a long way, it is struggling to find growth despite redesigning its vehicles and launching new tech and improvements within them.

The company is also looking to focus more on its deployment of autonomous tech, especially as it recently launched its Robotaxi platform in Austin just over a week ago.

Tesla officially launches Robotaxi service with no driver

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However, while this is the long-term catalyst for Tesla, sales still need some work, and it appears the company’s strategy is to put its biggest guns on its biggest problems.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Elon Musk

Tesla says it is working on rides for the handicapped and disabled with Robotaxi

Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed that this was a focus by responding, “Absolutely,” to the embedded post on X above. Tesla said it is developing its own “wheelchair-accessible vehicle,” also known as a WAV. 

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Credit: Teslarati

Tesla says on its Robotaxi app that it is working on enabling “accessibility rides” that would give the handicapped and disabled the ability to hail a Robotaxi to get to an appointment.

While Robotaxi will obviously revolutionize the way we travel for our work commutes, daily activities, and other things, but there is true potential to enable serious change for those who cannot drive.

Autonomous transportation would make life easier for those who are unable to obtain a driver’s license. Of course, with today’s ride-sharing platforms, things are much easier than they once were.

However, rides from Uber and Lyft, while plentiful, always have an opportunity to be unavailable in some regions, especially rural ones, due to a lack of drivers.

Robotaxi aims to solve this problem through autonomous transportation, a technology that Tesla has been developing for years.

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However, new language in the Robotaxi app shows that Tesla is working on a solution for people who need rides for medical reasons, and it uses a picture of the Robovan to hammer this point home:

Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed that this was a focus by responding, “Absolutely,” to the embedded post on X above. Tesla said it is developing its own “wheelchair-accessible vehicle,” also known as a WAV.

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This is likely the Robovan, which was unveiled on October 10 at the Robotaxi event last year:

Tesla unveils the Robovan at ‘We, Robot’ event

It is pretty interesting to see two Musk ventures working on solutions for those who are physically impaired or have other disabilities. With Tesla, Robotaxi will unlock immense potential for those who are unable to drive themselves, addressing a genuine need in today’s world.

Additionally, Neuralink is continuing its development of technology to fight against various physical and mental disabilities. A great question to ask is, “Which will be more beneficial for humans?”

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk says this common issue is ‘major area of focus’

Tesla, like any other company, goes through hardware issues with its vehicles, but some are more publicized than others.

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Credit: Tesla

Elon Musk said this afternoon on X that a commonly reported issue with the Tesla vehicles is a “major area of focus” for the company.

Tesla, like any other company, goes through hardware issues with its vehicles, but some are more publicized than others.

However, the simple yet annoying issues that owners encounter through thousands of miles of driving do not receive as much attention, even though they are likely more pertinent and frequently encountered by owners.

One of those problems is with the central windshield Full Self-Driving camera, which sits inside a housing at the top of the glass, enabling Tesla Vision to have an uninterrupted view of the traffic and surroundings ahead of the vehicle.

Many owners have reported that their vehicles alert them when Full Self-Driving is unavailable due to an obstruction with this camera. Commonly, it is caused by a buildup of condensation, which creates a haze on the camera and obstructs its view.

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Tesla suggests a quick cleaning of the housing and cameras, which resolves the problem. Still, owners are not necessarily ecstatic about having to do this themselves.

Tesla developing more comprehensive Cybertruck camera cleaning system

Musk says that Tesla is attempting to fix the issue, and said in response to one owner who performed the maintenance that it was a “major area of focus” for the company:

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While many were enthusiastic about the potential fix, but some complained that their cars had been in for service many times for the issue, inhibiting their ability to utilize FSD and truly enjoy the full experience of owning a Tesla.

It will likely be a hardware fix that will be implemented through a service appointment, but knowing Tesla, they could have something up their sleeve through a software update to resolve the issue.

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Elon Musk: Tesla shareholder vote results could “affect the future of the world”

“This shareholder vote decides the future of Tesla and may affect the future of the world,” Musk posted on X.

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MINISTÉRIO DAS COMUNICAÇÕES, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Elon Musk is urging Tesla shareholders to take part in the company’s upcoming annual meeting, calling the vote critical not just for the automaker but potentially for the world. 

“This shareholder vote decides the future of Tesla and may affect the future of the world,” Musk posted on X, emphasizing the importance of proposals that will be voted on in the upcoming meeting on November 6, 2025.

A pivotal inflection point

In a message from its official account, Tesla described itself as being at “a critical inflection point” as it prepares for its annual meeting. Shareholders will soon receive voting instructions, with the company asking investors to back the Board’s recommendations on all proposals. The post also referenced Tesla’s Master Plan Part IV, which outlines ambitious growth targets across vehicles, energy, and artificial intelligence.

“Tesla is at a critical inflection point. We need your vote ahead of our 2025 Annual Meeting on November 6. Tesla shareholders, the owners of our company, will soon receive their control numbers and voting instructions from their brokers. This will enable you to vote. We are asking you to vote with the Board’s recommendations on *all* proposals,” Tesla wrote in its post.

The company also highlighted that it is currently on the brink of a “massive wave of transformational growth.” Tesla stressed that confidence in Musk’s leadership is central to this trajectory, as he is the CEO who could lead Tesla into its new, ambitious era.

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Some Key proposals

Two proposals stand out in Tesla’s recommendations, as per the company’s VoteTesla.com website. The first seeks to amend and restate Elon Musk’s 2019 Equity Incentive Plan, creating a special reserve of nearly 208 million shares to give the board flexibility amid ongoing litigation surrounding Musk’s 2018 CEO Performance Award. It also calls for replenishing the general share reserve with 60 million additional shares, ensuring capacity for employee equity grants.

“Equity is the cornerstone of Tesla’s compensation philosophy. We believe we need a framework that allows us to honor the deal we made with Elon and the extraordinary value he created for Tesla shareholders under the 2018 CEO Performance Award. In addition, it is essential that we maintain sufficient equity reserves and maximum flexibility to attract, retain and motivate talent at Tesla,” Tesla wrote.

The second proposal is a new 2025 CEO Performance Award, a pay-for-performance framework that links Musk’s compensation to reaching ambitious market cap and operational milestones. Under the plan, Musk would earn nothing unless Tesla achieves extraordinary results, potentially creating more than $7 trillion in shareholder value and pushing the company’s valuation to as high as $8.5 trillion. The company also asked shareholders to vote in favor of re-electing three directors: Ira Ehrenpreis, Joe Gebbia, and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson.

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