The IT executive tasked with revamping how Tesla sells cars

Tesla’s auto business is in a sales slump like never before, and the man in charge of reversing it is a career IT executive with little sales experience and an itch to automate even more of the customer experience.

- Becky Peterson

Tesla's sales and services organizations have been under pressure since last year after a decade of rapid growth.

(BLOOMBERG)

That newly promoted executive, Raj Jegannathan, has gained a following on X, the social-media platform owned by Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk. There, Jegannathan personally fields customer complaints from influencers and ordinary buyers alike.

To spur sales in the final stretch of the quarter, with federal tax credits expiring at the end of September, Jegannathan posted about the deadline, evoking the urgency of an old-school car dealer.

“Order a Tesla before the $7,500 credit zooms away—time’s ticking!” he wrote last week.

Customer service and sales are new roles for Jegannathan, a relatively unknown technology executive who was promoted to the top tech role in January. In the months since, Jegannathan has steadily amassed an even broader mandate as restructuring and high-profile departures have thinned Musk’s executive bench. Since June, the company has parted ways with its two most senior sales executives and a senior service executive.

Jegannathan now oversees both IT and AI infrastructure as well as customer service and North American sales, according to people close to the company. The change signals Musk’s trust in Jegannathan, as well as the central role that tech will play as Tesla transitions its business away from selling electric vehicles and into selling robotics and artificial intelligence products.

Tesla’s sales and services organizations have been under pressure since last year after a decade of rapid growth. Incumbent brands and upstarts flooded the market with new EV models, bringing Tesla’s EV market share in the U.S. below 50%.

Global sales fell at least 13% in the first two quarters of the year after Musk’s time at the White House hurt Tesla’s brand reputation in liberal markets like California and Europe.