Tesla’s Cybertruck program manager, Siddhant Awasthi, has announced his departure from the company after eight years. Awasthi, who began his Tesla career as an intern before rising to lead one of the automaker’s most high-profile projects, shared the news on X Sunday evening.
“I recently made one of the hardest decisions of my life to leave @Tesla after an incredible run. Eight years ago, when I started as an intern, I never dreamed I’d one day have the opportunity to lead the @cybertruck program and bring it to reality. It’s been an absolute privilege filled with mostly high-intensity days—working alongside talented, driven, and truly rockstar colleagues across Tesla,” Awasthi wrote.
He continued, “I want to extend a huge thanks to Elon, all Tesla leaders (past and present), mentors, and our amazing customers (huge shoutout!) who’ve fueled my drive and kept me pushing forward through it all.”
Awasthi reflected on his wide-ranging experience at Tesla: “It’s tough to sum up eight years in just a few lines, but what a thrilling journey it’s been: ramping up Model 3, working on Giga Shanghai, developing new electronics and wireless architectures, and delivering the once-in-a-lifetime Cybertruck—all before hitting 30. The icing on the cake was getting to dive back into Model 3 work toward the end.”
“I’m confident Tesla will nail its next big mission (especially after last week), and I’m truly excited for the next chapter of my life,” he added, referring to everything Tesla announced at its 2025 shareholder meeting last week.
Tesla’s Cybertruck lead engineer, Wes Morrill, also responded publicly, praising Awasthi’s leadership and work ethic: “Appreciate your partnership, knowing I could count on you no matter what challenge we had to face. Your enthusiasm to figure it out (whatever it was in the moment) was maybe the first time my eternal optimism met its match and I knew we could figure out anything together.”
It remains to be seen how Awasthi’s departure will affect Tesla’s Cybertruck program, which has long faced scrutiny from the market. The company discontinued its cheapest Cybertruck model in the U.S. back in September and more recently recalled 6,000 Foundation Series trucks over defective off-road lightbars.
Despite these setbacks, Tesla continues to push its all-electric pickup into new markets, with Cybertruck order books opening last month in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE. The automaker is also preparing to begin deliveries in South Korea imminently. Meanwhile, Tesla recently rolled out the complete suite of Full Self-Driving (Supervised) capabilities to Cybertruck owners through a software update.
