After just four months as president of heavy-duty trucking at Tesla, Jerome Guillen has left the company. The autonomous vehicle company filed a report of Guillen's departure on June 3 to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
“We thank him for his many contributions and wish him well in his future career,” the company stated in the report.
Before his transition to the heavy-duty sector, Guillen was the president of Tesla’s automotive division, in which he oversaw the Tesla Semi, leading the company’s entire automotive business from September 2018 until March 2021.
Guillen had a decade-long career at Tesla, holding numerous roles at the company. He started his tenure in 2010 and reported directly to CEO Elon Musk as the program director of the Model S later becoming VP of vehicle engineering. Guillen, a former Daimler executive, was responsible for the development of the company’s new generation of Class 8 trucks.
The Tesla Semi, the company’s battery-electric vehicle, continues to progress in development after its reveal in November 2017. It was supposed to go into production by 2019, but it has continued to be pushed back.
In January, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during the company’s 2020 Q4 earnings call that all engineering work on the semi had been completed and that it expected to begin deliveries in 2021. The availability of battery cells was the only issue limiting the vehicle’s production, Musk said at the time. Three months later, Tesla didn’t provide much of a progress report except to say the semi was in development.
It remains unclear if Guillen’s departure will cause further delays.
