Tesla looks for new comms manager, is a PR dept coming back?

Tesla is looking to hire a new product communication manager, and the job description hints that a PR department might finally be coming back.

In 2020, Tesla stopped answering press inquiries, and Electrek later reported that CEO Elon Musk dissolved Tesla’s whole press department.

At the time, we asked Musk what we should do if we had questions for Tesla, and he told us that any question should go through him. Funny enough, that was through Twitter DM and he blocked us (my personal account and Electrek’s) shortly after.

In 2021, Musk commented on someone asking Tesla to hire a PR department again. He turned the idea down and suggested that having a PR department amounts to “manipulating public opinion.”

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For the last 4 years, Tesla hasn’t had a spokesperson nor anyone answering questions from the media. Musk has been the sole official mouthpiece for Tesla for a long time, though some more Tesla executives and engineers have started communicating about the company through Musk’s X recently.

But now a new job posting is giving us some hope that things are changing on that front.

Tesla posted a new job listing for a “Vehicle Communications Manager” on LinkedIn, and the job description points to collaborating with “external media”:

As the Vehicle Communications Manager, you will be responsible for managing all external data communication relating to vehicle programs and coordinating efforts with external media. This includes closely collaborating with technical staff on vehicle metrics, managing external vehicle data to achieve consistency and accuracy, approving website content and enabling external media access to assess product. Your work will include advising on new product target setting and assessing program developments as an early customer-ambassador. You will work closely with a wide spectrum of technical and business teams in addition to Vehicle Program Managers, Vehicle Technical Leaders and company executives to align on public facing data and help the world appreciate the impact of Tesla products.

To be fair, Tesla has collaborated with a handful of external media, primarily Jay Leno, Marques Brownlee, and Motortrend, after disbanding its PR department, but even the former member of the PR department that was in charge of those collaborating left earlier this year.

The rest of the job description consists of things that Tesla is already doing, like producing marketing content.

It’s also important to note that Tesla has PR departments in Europe and Asia. It’s only in North America where it doesn’t operate with one.

Electrek’s Take

I think this was one of Elon’s worst moves. The fact that all Tesla comms go through him and through Twitter is nonsense. Most people are not on Twitter.

They are just preaching to the quire there.

Also, “manipulating public opinion”? That shows more where Elon’s mind is than what a PR dept does. Obviously, if he gave them that directive, that’s what they are going to do, but I did work with Tesla PR on several occasions, and they were committed to making sure accurate information about Tesla was being circulated.

A PR department is super helpful for an automaker. It helps get the cars in the hands of auto reporters for reviews and when the media reports a story about Tesla, the automaker can share its side of the story.

When Tesla had a PR department, I think there was objectively more accurate reporting about Tesla. Elon decided against that.