Tesla asks employees to deliver 30,000 cars in their spare time

Tesla is reportedly asking employees to give up free time to help it deliver 30,000 cars before the end of 2019’s first quarter.

In a letter sent to department heads at the company and obtained by Business Insider, Sanjay Shah, senior vice-president of Tesla, said: “We need your help to make more progress in volunteer sign ups. We have to deliver 30,000 more cars in next 15 days.”

Alongside this revelation, Business Insider also claims to have spoken with an anonymous Tesla employee who drove a customer’s car for three hours to ensure it was delivered on time, before taking a company-paid Uber trip back.

“We all pitched in because we want to see the company succeed,” the employee told the publication. “We did it for our own job security and for the company.”

The news is the latest at a time of perceived turmoil for the American electric car manufacturer. A plan to shift sales to an online-only sales model has put the future of most of its 378 worldwide dealerships into question – including 18 in the UK – while earlier this year it was announced that 3,150 jobs would be cut at the firm in an effort to reduce the cost of its Model 3 saloon.

At the beginning of the month, Tesla also announced huge price cuts to its Model S and Model X cars – by as much as £48,005 in the case of the S Ludicrous Performance variant. The move was met with criticism by Tesla owners who had bought vehicles in the weeks ahead of the price drop.

Speaking to the Press Association, Justin Hammond, who picked up his new Model S 75kWh eight weeks ago, said he no longer trusted the brand.

“The decision to slash prices of new models has put me off Tesla. I don’t trust it any more and I’m concerned at what the firm will do next. I’m very annoyed and I think this [decision] is terrible.

“I would take legal action if I could. I think we are due some money or an upgrade definitely.”