The head of Tesla’s Cybertruck program is leaving the company at a time when the polarizing vehicle is struggling with slow sales and recalls.

Siddhant Awasthi started at Tesla eight years ago as an intern and quickly rose in the company. He announced his departure in a LinkedIn post on Sunday evening.

“It’s been an absolute privilege filled with mostly high-intensity days – working alongside talented, driven, and truly rockstar colleagues across Tesla,” Mr. Awasthi wrote.

Mr. Awasthi thanked CEO Elon Musk and Tesla customers in his post.

“This decision wasn’t easy, especially with so much exciting growth on the horizon,” Mr. Awasthi wrote. “Tesla vehicles are incredibly complex systems that often don’t get the credit they deserve, but I’ve witnessed firsthand how they’ve changed lives – for our customers, my friends, and my family – adding real value and, above all, improving safety.”

Mr. Awasthi didn’t give a reason for his decision or say what he plans to do next. Mr. Musk has not publicly commented on Mr. Awasthi’s departure.

The Cybertruck has been a sales laggard for Tesla. Kelly Blue Book reports that only 5,385 Cybertrucks were sold in the third quarter of 2025, compared to more than 50,000 Model 3s and 100,000 Model Ys.

When Tesla launched the Cybertruck two years ago, Mr. Musk hoped to grow sales to more than 250,000 a year. But sales of the truck – which can cost between $80,000 and $100,000 – never accelerated, and Tesla was sitting on more than 10,000 unsold units early this year. Tesla started offering discounts on the vehicles but that did not goose sales.

The Cybertruck has faced several recalls since launch. The latest came last month because the front lights were too bright on more than 63,000 Cybertrucks.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced another recall in March because of the risk that an exterior panel that runs along the windshield could detach while driving and create a dangerous road hazard. 

Tesla faces lawsuits connected to a fatal crash involving a Cybertruck in California. The parents of two college students killed in the crash claim the vehicle’s door design prevented their children from escaping a fire.

The families claim Tesla’s electronic door system failed during the emergency, and the manual release mechanisms were too difficult to locate and operate in the chaos of the fire.

Tesla has had several executives leave this year. The company’s top sales executive, Troy Jones, left over the summer. The vice president of software engineering, David Lau, departed earlier in the year to head to OpenAI.

Shareholders voted last week to approve a pay package for Mr. Musk that could be worth up to $1 trillion if he reaches lofty goals. Tesla’s board proposed the largest corporate pay package in history in September. A court battle over Mr. Musk’s previous pay package is still in a Delaware court.