A Kenyan engineer who held a senior position at US electric carmaker Tesla, has resigned. Charles Mwangi resigned this week to join an undisclosed startup.
The alumnus of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) spent six years at the firm which is owned by billionaire Elon Musk.
“The startup I am joining is still under the radar, but I couldn’t be more excited to be joining this team,” he said without revealing further details. In my next journey, I am lucky enough to have found that same inspiration as the early days of Tesla but in a completely different industry. A world-changing human mission. Global scale. A team with a deep commitment to excellence,” he announced on LinkedIn.
Mr. Mwangi joined the US automobile maker in 2012 and became the senior director of engineering in August last year. He headed the Tesla subsidiary Tesla Tool & Die and was responsible for body manufacturing engineering, body equipment controls and maintenance engineering.
He previously worked at Toyota in Indiana between 2003 and 2005. He later joined Nissan Motor Corporation in Mississippi in 2006 before exiting to join Tesla seven years ago.
Mr. Mwangi is the latest top executive to leave the US electric car maker with at least six others having left since last year. The four-door Sedan Model 3 launched last year is the latest electric car made by Tesla. Others include Model S, X and the open two-seat Roaster first manufactured in 2007.
On Wednesday, Elon Musk announced that the company will stop selling low-cost versions of the Model S and X.