Tesla’s VP of Sales Hands Off Steering Wheel as Deliveries Take a Nose Dive
KEY POINTS
- •Raj Jegannathan, Tesla’s vice president of IT turned sales leader, left the company after 13 years in February 2026.
- •He took over North American sales and service shortly after Troy Jones’s July 2025 departure and introduced AI tools.
- •Tesla reported a 16% year-over-year drop in deliveries during first quarter 2026 while Musk worked in a now-defunct federal agency.
Raj Jegannathan, Tesla's longtime vice president who bizarrely switched from IT and engineering to sales, waved goodbye after 13 years of riding shotgun through the carmaker's North American sales mess. Taking the reins just after Troy Jones' July exit, he sprinkled AI magic on workflows—because nothing screams 'sales revival' like computers trying to sell cars. All amid a backdrop of Tesla’s delivery numbers sputtering with a 16% drop year-over-year in early 2026. Meanwhile, Elon Musk played federal efficiency guru before that department quietly fizzled out, and Musk’s closest pals, Omead Afshar and robotics czar Milan Kovac, couldn’t be bothered to hang around either.
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Tesla’s sales VP jumps ship after 13 years—probably realized AI can’t plug a 16% delivery hole or keep Elon’s government side gig afloat.
Raj Jegannathan traded his IT badge for a sales hat, then promptly realized AI doesn’t sell cars, just TikTok dances to Elon.
Elon’s Department of Government Efficiency was dissolved, but the inefficiency of Tesla’s sales decline is thriving thanks to Raj.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 2/9/2026 | Author: Grace Kay
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