Tesla asks workers to volunteer to help deliver 30K cars: Report
As electric automaker Tesla looks to ramp up sales and production, it reportedly is asking employees to help deliver vehicles to customers.
The automaker is asking workers to volunteer to help the company deliver 30,000 vehicles before the end of the quarter – in about two weeks, Business Insider reported on Monday.
"We need your help to make more progress in volunteer sign ups," senior vice president Sanjay Shah reportedly said in the email to department heads. "We have to deliver 30,000 more cars in next 15 days."
A spokesperson for the company declined FOX Business’ request for comment on the email, but did note the effort is completely voluntary.
It would not be the first time Tesla sought in-house volunteers to help with deliveries.
However, this push comes after recent cost-cutting initiatives resulted in company-wide layoffs – which included half of the division that delivers cars to customers in North America, according to Reuters. Tesla, however, has disputed that report.
CEO Elon Musk in September said on Twitter that the automaker had transitioned from “production hell” to “delivery logistics hell.” The latter, Musk noted, was a far more tractable issue.
In its fourth-quarter financial report, Tesla said it expects to deliver between 360,000 to 400,000 vehicles in 2019, an increase of as much as 65 percent when compared with last year. Musk confirmed the higher-end figure in a now-contested tweet, where regulators allege he violated a court order. The automaker is aiming for a production rate of 10,000 cars per week.
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Meanwhile, a pending price hike could exacerbate problems for the automaker by causing a bump in order activity. As of Tuesday, an average worldwide 3 percent price increase will go into effect, as CEO Elon Musk reminded potential customers over the weekend to get their orders in before midnight on Monday. The price increase affects most models, with the exception of the lower-cost $35,000 variant of the Model 3.
Tesla also unveiled its newest crossover vehicle – the Model Y – during an event in California last week.