Tesla Makes New Cuts to Sales Staff

Tesla Inc. has fired dozens of “inside” sales people at offices in Chicago, Brooklyn N.Y.; and Tampa, Fla.

The terminations, which occurred last Thursday, were effective immediately, Bloomberg News reports. The affected staffers were part of teams that made prospecting calls to would-be buyers and invited them to take test drives.

The firings reflect Tesla’s rush to move more transactions online, in spite of its partial pullback on a plan announced in February to close all its physical stores in the U.S., Bloomberg says. Last week the carmaker also raised prices 3%, or about $2,000, on all models worldwide.

The news service notes that Tesla’s new staff cutback came immediately after the end of the first quarter, in which the company reported a 31% drop in quarter-on-quarter sales volume.