Image Credit: PR, Screenshot/ Tesla

Tesla did not have the greatest 2014 in China. Although the government is eager to promote the use of electric cars, Tesla’s sales were weak. Weak enough to make Tesla founder Elon Musk upset. Musk reportedly threatened firings at Tesla China, and now Chinese newspaper The Economic Observer is reporting that the company is engaged in large-scale layoffs.

Cutting the (man) power

According to the Economic Observer, Tesla China has about 600 employees, and it plans to cut around 30 percent of them (or around 180 people). “Before Spring Festival they had already started [layoffs],” one Tesla China employee told the paper. “Big departments like sales, marketing, public relations, and administration have all had cuts. The proportion of cuts in each department isn’t the same; in a big department like sales the plan is to cut 50 percent.”

An email request for comment to Tesla’s Asia press office returned an “undeliverable” error.Tech in Asia has contacted Tesla’s American press office for comment on this story and will update if we hear back.

Another Tesla employee told the paper that lots of the company’s China employees are publicly saying they’re “on vacation” or taking a temporary leave, but have actually been fired. “Since we’ve gotten back from the Spring Festival holiday everyone’s very nervous, because you never know when it could be your turn,” the source said.

The apparent layoffs aren’t the only change Tesla has made in an attempt to boost its unimpressive China numbers. The company also recently announced that it would install home charger units for Chinese customers for free – a service it does not provide anywhere else.