Elon Musk takes charge of Tesla's Model 3 production unit

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken charge of its flagship electric sedan- Model 3's production unit. The CEO has pushed aside former Apple executive Doug Field, according to a report from The Information. Field, Tesla's senior vice president of engineering, will instead be focusing on vehicle engineering only.

Elon Musk, in a Twitter exchange, said he is “back to sleeping at the factory” while trying to fix production delays with the Model 3 electric car. It’s a move reminiscent of Tesla’s last vehicle launch—the Model X—when Musk famously kept a sleeping bag near the production line so he could immediately address any hiccups.

About a year ago, I asked Doug to manage both engineering & production. He agreed that Tesla needed eng & prod better aligned, so we don’t design cars that are crazy hard to build. Right now, tho, better to divide & conquer, so I’m back to sleeping at factory. Car biz is hell …

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2018

The leadership shakeup comes as Tesla’s stock is getting hammered over the production troubles and following the crash of a Model X, in which the driver died while using the company’s “Autopilot” feature.

Tesla is under enormous pressure to build the Model 3 fast enough to meet customer demand—and to bring in revenue to offset billions of dollars spent preparing for its rollout.