Troy Jones, one of Tesla’s longest-serving sales executives, has left the company after more than 15 years, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, 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.
Before joining Tesla, Jones worked in commercial real estate and regional sales management, including a role as West Coast Regional Director at CoStar Group.
He also served as a managing member at TRJ Investments from 2006 to 2010, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Jones’ departure follows a string of other high-level exits. In June, Omead Afshar — a close aide to CEO Elon Musk who had been promoted less than a year ago to oversee sales and manufacturing in North America and Europe — also left the company.
Jenna Ferrua, Tesla’s director of human resources for North America, departed that same month. Earlier this year, a top artificial intelligence executive left, as did Milan Kovac, vice president of engineering and the executive in charge of Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot project.
The turnover comes amid rising pressure on Tesla’s core automotive business. Sales of the company’s higher-end models have faltered: U.S. deliveries of the Model S dropped 70.9% year-on-year in Q2 to just 1,435 units, according to new data from Cox Automotive.
By contrast, the Model Y and Model 3 — Tesla’s mass-market vehicles — remained the two best-selling EVs in the United States.
The Model Y logged 86,120 sales in Q2, while the Model 3 saw 48,803 units sold. Combined, they accounted for 43% of all EVs sold in the country during the quarter.
Tesla recently refreshed its Model S and Model X in mid-June, introducing improved suspension tuning, upgraded noise insulation, a new paint option, and a modest range boost. Prices for both models rose by $5,000 with the update.
The company also launched a lower-priced variant of the Cybertruck earlier this year.
International expansion continues. 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.
Tesla is also scaling its autonomous driving efforts. Following a limited rollout of its robotaxi service in Austin in late June, the company expanded the geofenced service area earlier this week.
A broader launch in the San Francisco Bay Area is expected “in a month or two”, pending regulatory approval.
Meanwhile, corporate governance remains a source of investor concern. Earlier this month, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives publicly called on Tesla’s board to grant Musk 25% voting control with oversight of his political activities and time commitments.
Musk responded with a post on X: “shut up, Dan.”
