Tesla manager claims he was fired for warning Elon Musk is at fault for tanking EV sales

• After nearly six years at EV manufacturer Tesla, Matthew LaBrot said he lost his "dream job" when he demanded Musk cede the reins—a price the manager said he was willing to pay. Investors seem less worried about Tesla's EV continuing sales plummet, with the stock worth nearly $1 trillion.

Tesla stock is poised to reclaim its spot in the trillion-dollar club of global megacaps on Monday, cheering investors with highs not seen since late February. Fundamentally, however, its core business of selling EVs to car buyers has never looked more vulnerable, with jobs on the line if volumes continue to crater.

With a second straight year-on-year sales decline now looking increasingly likely for the second quarter after very weak April demand, one employee claims he was recently fired for sounding the alarm. Matthew LaBrot, a manager tasked with training sales and delivery teams, wrote that the only way for Tesla to grow and thrive is to remove Musk from the corner office.

While he knew this act of insurrection would mean his termination, he argued losing his "dream job" after nearly six years at the company was a price he was willing to pay.

“I believe in Tesla’s mission more than I fear its CEO,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post on Friday that blamed his termination on calling for Musk to step down.

The company did not respond to a request by Fortune asking whether this was in fact why he was fired.

In LaBrot’s mind, the CEO has done irreversible damage through his time leading DOGE, a project initially designed to last well into 2026. Instead of a successful end on July 4 next year, a gift to taxpayers coinciding with the 250-year anniversary of the nation’s founding, it’s quietly faded into the background much earlier amid non-stop controversy. 

'People no longer want to associate with Elon'

Even before it began, DOGE promised to target a $6.6 billion federal loan extended to Rivian, a direct competitor of Tesla. Once in place, Musk’s team have targeted federal agencies and senior staff tasked with overseeing Tesla, SpaceX and now xAI as well.

LaBrot's LinkedIn post links to a website entitled “Tesla Employees Against Elon”. It argues Musk himself is to blame for the plunging sales, suggesting that the announcement he is returning to Tesla cannot help the brand. 

“People no longer want to associate with Elon. That’s it. That’s the truth,” the site argued, citing the 9% drop in U.S. sales of Tesla cars while the country's overall EV market grew 11% in the first quarter.

There is little doubt that Musk's time at DOGE has done damage to the Tesla brand—otherwise President Trump likely wouldn’t take the unusual step of declaring vandalization of Tesla property an act of political terrorism punishable with 20 years behind bars. JPMorgan argued the brand damage was unlike anything it had ever seen in the auto industry.

But the scale of it is unclear, since part of it stems from legitimate and inevitable reasons. A changeover to a newer version of its best-selling Model Y that accounts for two-thirds of its car sales helps explain in part why Tesla is being left behind as the overall EV market grows. This could potentially still reverse once all versions and configurations are broadly available.

Nor can anyone reasonably predict how lasting the damage may be now that Musk is leaving DOGE. Investors no longer seem so concerned: the stock has risen by more than a third since he confirmed late last month he would dial back his DOGE commitments.

Musk shifts blame over mismanagement onto his dedicated employees

Shares in the company are now set to open 7.5% higher at $320 on news that a tariff pause with China has been reached over the weekend. Even its stock chart looks promising, with the price finally breaking above its 200-day moving average, typically interpreted as a bullish technical indicator.

It’s unclear how many employees out of the over 125,000 worldwide think similarly. Neither LaBrot nor Tesla Employees Against Elon responded to a request by Fortune for comment outside of normal hours.

But LaBrot's protest does indicate an important fact. One of Musk’s greatest leadership traits is his ability to convince people working for him to go the extra mile since his goals and aspirations align with theirs. By embracing a Trump administration hostile to Tesla’s own mission of accelerating the advent of sustainable mobility, Musk risks tearing up this social contract with those in his workforce that sought to make a difference in the climate crisis.

LaBrot's site even argues Musk has thrown his dedicated employees under the bus by implying they were the ones to have mismanaged the company in his absence.

“Elon’s recent claim that he is ‘refocusing’ on Tesla is not only tone-deaf, it’s insulting,” his site wrote. “It implies that the hardships of the past six months stem from a lack of his attention, not from his actions. It shifts the blame onto the very people who have held this company together.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com