Tesla reportedly fired Omead Afshar, its head of North American and European operations, in June following a massive drop in European EV deliveries. Afshar, who joined Tesla in 2017, was just promoted to the position in November. The Wall Street Journal described Afshar as one of Musk's closest confidants at the company.

Tesla’s profits slumped 23 per cent as worldwide sales of its electric vehicles continued to fall steeply as the car makers freefall since chief executive Elon Musk’s spectacular public bust up with President Trump. The company’s second-quarter revenue declined after car deliveries fell 13.5 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The fallout from Elon Musk's plunge into politics a year ago is still hammering his Tesla business as both sales and profits fell sharply again in the latest quarter.