Tesla has promoted longtime engineering executive Raj Jegannathan to lead the company’s sales operations, Reuters reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Jegannathan, who has spent nearly 13 years at Tesla in senior infrastructure and security roles, was most recently Vice President of IT, AI Infrastructure, Apps, Infosec, and Vehicle Service Operations, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Jegannathan, who has recently grown closer to CEO Elon Musk, has no traditional sales experience, Reuters said while adding that it could not determine whether the appointment is permanent or an interim move.
His previous responsibilities included overseeing Tesla’s internal platforms, global cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity operations, and high-performance computing systems used in Autopilot development.
Separately, Tesla’s longest-serving sales executive Troy Jones has recently left the company after more than 15 years, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Jones joined Tesla in April 2010 and most recently held the position of Vice President of North America Sales and Service, overseeing the automaker’s commercial operations across its largest regional market.
Tesla reported a 13.5% year-over-year decline in vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, falling short of analyst expectations. The company now faces the challenge of delivering more than 1 million electric vehicles in the second half of the year to meet its annual growth target.
Barclays analyst Dan Levy reaffirmed the firm’s Equalweight rating on Tesla earlier this week, citing “increasingly weaker fundamentals” and maintaining a $275 price target set in April.
In a research note, Levy said he expects Tesla’s second-quarter automotive gross margin — excluding regulatory credits — to show some improvement from the first quarter.
Tesla posted a gross margin of 12.5% in Q1, down 3.9% from the same period last year and 1.1 points sequentially. Despite a potential rebound, Levy noted margins will “likely remain depressed” compared to prior years.
Tesla formally launched in India on Tuesday, opening a showroom in Mumbai with the Model Y listed at a starting price of about $71,200. Deliveries are expected to begin later this quarter.
