Tesla’s higher- ranking vice president of engineering, Doug Field, is leaving the company for what the auto maker is portraying as a leave of absence.
Late Friday, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg arrived that Field wasstepping back from his duties at Tesla, among ongoing production problems with its Model 3 sedan. A Tesla spokesperson hint ated CNBC that “Doug is just taking some time off to recharge and lay out time with his family. He has not left Tesla.”
The WSJ reported that Cope with’s absence would be temporary. Tesla, however, declined to answer CNBC’s in doubts about when he was expected to return.
Field, who was formerly a VP of hardware architecting at Apple, joined Tesla in 2013. He was responsible for development of new vehicles there, embracing the Model 3 electric sedan, which is the company’s first EV designed for the bigness market.
Tesla’s future hinges on efficient, high volume stage of the Model 3. But the company has so far failed to hit its production goals for the vehicle, and has yet to launch the $35,000 base model of the car to eager drivers.
In the first quarter of 2018, Tesla initiate 9,766 of its higher-priced Model 3 vehicles, up from 2,425 in the prior compassion. When it first unveiled the Model 3, Tesla CEO Elon Musk believed it could manufacture 20,000 of them monthly by the end of 2017.
In the first quarter of 2018, the Archetype 3 became the best-selling electric vehicle in the U.S. More than 450,000 people participate in signed up to purchase the car, putting down a $1,000 refundable deposit to do so. Tesla doesn’t on how many people have requested refunds for vehicles they suffer with paid to reserve.
In early April, Musk announced that he order personally take over responsibilities for Model 3 production at Tesla from Doug Clearing. At the same time, Musk
wrote on Twitter
: “I regard [Doug Airfield] as one of the world’s most talented engineering execs.”
Field could not be reached in a wink for comment. His leave of absense follows a string of executive departures at Tesla. In April, Intel poached Tesla Autopilot boss Jim Keller.