Tesla is cutting thousands of jobs as the electric Model 3 goes into production

Tesla Inc said on Friday it was cutting several thousands of jobs, as the electric car maker looks to trim costs and be consistently profitable while it ramps up the production of its crucial Model 3 sedan.Tesla shares fell 4.1 percent to $333 in premarket trading.“Tesla will need to make these cuts while increasing the Model 3 production rate and making many manufacturing engineering improvements in the coming months,” Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said in an email to employees that was published on the company’s blog.“There isn’t any other way,” he said.[caption id="attachment_5862561" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Tesla emblem on the back end of a Model S. Image: Tesla[/caption]The company said it would reduce full-time employee headcount by about 7 percent and retain only the most critical temps and contractors.Earlier this month, Tesla cut US prices for all its vehicles to offset lower green tax credits, and fell short on quarterly deliveries of its mass-market Model 3 sedan.Musk said the company is on target to report a GAAP profit in its fourth quarter, but less than the previous three-month period.“This quarter, as with Q3, shipment of higher priced Model 3 variants (this time to Europe and Asia) will hopefully allow us, with great difficulty, effort and some luck, to target a tiny profit,” Musk said.