From the NY Times:
Tesla Motors said Wednesday that it will lay off employees and delay production of its next battery-powered car. The once-hot electric car start-up also said it was removing Ze=92ev Drori as chief executive and appointing Elon Musk, now the company=92s chairman, to the post.
Mr. Musk, who made his fortune as co-founder of PayPal, announced the changes in his blog on Tesla=92s Web site. He said the company plans to be cash-flow positive in six to nine months.
=93It=92s not an understatement to say that nearly every business will be impacted by what has unfolded in the past weeks, and this is true for Silicon Valley as well,=94 Mr. Musk wrote, adding that the company is at a =93critical phase.=94
The news comes in the wake of several Silicon Valley venture capitalists warning start-ups that they must slash expenses and get to profitability as quickly as possible to cope with the likely recession. Tesla has had a particularly difficult year, with previous layoffs, production delays and changes in the executive ranks.
Mr. Drori, who had been chief executive since November, will remain on the board as vice chairman. Mr. Drori replaced Tesla=92s former chief, co-founder Martin Eberhard, who was ousted in August
2007.Mr. Musk did not say how many people would be laid off, but Tesla will close its office near Detroit.
Production of the Model S, which will be Tesla=92s second and more affordable electric car, will be pushed back to mid-2011. In September, Tesla announced that it would lease 89 acres of land in San Jose to build a new headquarters and a plant to produce the Model S. It said then that the car would be on the road in 2010.