In the message sent to Tesla employees, Musk announces that he will lay off "more than 10%" of the workforce due to the need to "reduce costs" and "increase productivity".

This involves around 15,000 people. By the end of 2023, Tesla had 140,000 employees worldwide.

Musk says in the email sent to Tesla employees that the company is preparing for the "next phase of growth".

"As part of this effort, we carried out a comprehensive review of the organization and made the difficult decision to reduce the workforce by more than 10% globally," he adds.

"There's nothing I hate more, but it has to be done," Musk also stressed.

The announcement comes just days after Tesla announced that its sales fell by 8.5% in the first quarter of the year, a period in which the company's shares lost almost 30% of their value.

Tesla will release its first quarter financial results on April 23.

In recent weeks, the company has also significantly lowered prices in North America, to stimulate demand and reduce vehicle stock at a time when there is a slowdown in demand for electric vehicles.

Industry analysts point out that the period of rapid growth that characterized Tesla in recent years ended with increased competition from traditional manufacturers, difficulties in reducing costs and a sharp increase in the production of electric vehicles by Chinese companies.

The problem of Chinese competition

At the end of 2023, China's BYD stole first place from Tesla in the sale of electric cars worldwide in the last quarter of that year. Even so, Tesla was still in the lead with all of the year's sales.

But the figures continue to fall and sales between January and March this year show a drop of around 1.6%.

Tesla's profit margins have also been falling since 2020, averaging around 13%, with sales increasing by 45% a year.

However, the new reality adds pressure to the company and analysts' projections point to profit margins of around 10% for the next three years.

As for sales, they are expected to grow by an average of less than 20% a year.

These figures reflect a widespread crisis in the automotive sector, but contrast with Musk's usual megalomaniac statements. And unrealistic expectations are one of the company's biggest problems - especially since, at this point, it no longer dominates the electric battery market.

In 2020, Tesla accounted for around 80% of sales in this area. By the end of 2023, its market share had fallen to 55%.

For now, there's no reason to worry about the company's future. But it's certainly a good time for reflection - and perhaps for Elon Musk to hire a PR person who is more restrained when it comes to setting goals and expectations.