Tesla chair Robyn Denholm says media reports the electric-car brand wants to find a new CEO to replace Elon Musk are "absolutely false".
Tesla has denied media reports its board of directors have begun searching for a new CEO to replace Elon Musk.
On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported the Tesla board – headed by Australian executive Robyn Denholm – had contacted executive search firms to start looking for its next chief executive officer, a role held by Elon Musk since 2008.
However, in a statement shared to Tesla's X account hours after the report was published, Denholm said the claims were "absolutely false" and the board remained "highly confident" in Musk.
"The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the Board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead," Denholm said.
In a reply to Tesla's X post, Elon Musk added the report was "an EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS" and did not "include an unequivocal denial beforehand by the Tesla board of directors".
Slowing Tesla sales have been partially attributed to Musk's increased involvement in politics, with the businessman playing a key role in US President Donald Trump's 2024 election campaign and leading the Department of Government Efficiency since Trump's inauguration in January.
Elon Musk is scheduled to leave his US administration role by May 30, 2025, due to a 130-day cap for special government employees within a 365-day period.
During an earnings announcement call in late April, Musk told investors that he would be allocating "far more" time to his role at Tesla and would "significantly" reduce his government role, starting in May.
Tesla has reported a 66 per cent drop in its operational income for the first three months of 2025 compared to the same time in 2024, weeks after confirming a 13 per cent global sales decline over the same period.
Tesla has launched a facelift for its best-selling model, the Model Y SUV, with Australian deliveries soon to commence following its reveal in January – while it debuted a more affordable version of its Cybertruck in April for the US.
A cheaper and smaller version of the Model Y is reportedly under development – said to be 20 per cent cheaper to build than the standard model – with Reuters claiming production will commence sometime between the third quarter of 2026 (July to September), and early 2026.
Jordan is a motoring journalist based in Melbourne with a lifelong passion for cars. He has been surrounded by classic Fords and Holdens, brand-new cars, and everything in between from birth, with his parents’ owning an automotive workshop in regional Victoria. Jordan started writing about cars in 2021, and joined the Drive team in 2024.
