Tesla Motors burns out another as Darryl Siry signs off

Apparently the fear of snapping up another job after ditching the green fields of Tesla Motors isn't on Darryl Siry's mind, as the SVP of Marketing and Sales has publicly admitted to leaving the company over "disagreements in strategy." The news comes but 1.5 months after Elon Musk made himself CEO and told a few others to stay happy elsewhere, and while Darryl's replacement wasn't directly named, Siry does outrightly state that he has only remained on this long to recruit "a very strong successor." The best part of his farewell? This gem: "So what now? I have no immediate plans but look forward to exploring various opportunities that I find out there." Translation? I'm so loaded after my stint in this place, it doesn't even matter, holmes.

[Via Autoblog]

[iEye @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:42PM]

Capital!

[BigBirdUK @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:06PM]

Idiat!

[phanbouy fan fan @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:42PM]

i would like to meet this "holmes". we'll hang with my "holmies"

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:45PM]

Dude. Never crack a joke again

[BlurMagic @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:46PM]

That was a joke? Wow. I had no idea.

[AgonS @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:25PM]

We still use the verb 'crack' about making jokes??

[Cory @ Dec 2nd 2008 6:24PM]

I thought it was effin hilarious (the kind of joke you laugh at because it's stupid as shit).

[Victoid @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:45PM]

what up holmes! indubitably!

[Esat Dedezade @ Dec 2nd 2008 6:32PM]

The fact that I know all three of those posters you are referring to tells me I spend waaay to much time here :(

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:47PM]

They just keep dropping. Not mine though. Mine dropped a couple of years ago.

[Bo @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:49PM]

what did you drop a couple of years ago?

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:51PM]

I'll leave that to you imagination. Not sure thats a good idea though.

[phanbouy fan fan @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:55PM]

Dude. Never crack a joke again

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:58PM]

It was serious.

[Samboini @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:01PM]

His I.Q. level.

[Messymeese @ Dec 2nd 2008 10:09PM]

Eww, you associated yourself with iEye. At least you've got cojones.

[NHAnimator @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:48PM]

"holmes" is what you leave us with? Ouch, that's gonna leave a mark.

[BlurMagic @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:53PM]

Now Introducing: EngadgetLATINO. Holmes.

[DirtyVegas @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:59PM]

Let's just stick to whitey slang shall we?

[Samboini @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:03PM]

Sure thing honkey.

[parphat @ Dec 2nd 2008 6:15PM]

golly gee fella! I couldn't agree more!

[Speney G @ Dec 2nd 2008 3:59PM]

He just doesn't want to be around when the first Lithium-ion batteries catch on fire and blow up.

[BigBirdUK @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:04PM]

Is it me or does he look like he's just driven his Tesla 220.01 miles?

[404 @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:10PM]

Eh? I thought he just looks slightly too paranoid about getting fingerprints on his windshield...

[ken @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:06PM]

I doubt he's made enough to retire from working at Tesla. They're not publicly traded and I don't believe they give giant bonuses, seeing how they are nowhere near profitability. What makes you think he made a killing there? He doesn't have another job, he basically got fired, unless he made a lot at a previous job.

[Brian @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:11PM]

Yea. What Ken said.

[Nicholas @ Dec 2nd 2008 9:16PM]

Except that they sold a Lotus Elise loaded with batteries for a full-sized electric car. That was an awful lot of money burned for a kit car.

[1234321 @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:11PM]

after one good car and a good start, looks like Telsa has turned into enough of a drama to join the detriot companies

[holycow @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:19PM]

I would love to see one of these on Top Gear.

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:22PM]

It depends on what top gear you watch but i doubt that will happen

[iEye @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:47PM]

They don't like American cars...

[holycow @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:52PM]

@Thi mam(kris120890)
Top Gear UK ofcourse!

@iEye
They loved the Corvette ZR1, Cadillac CTS-V & Dodge Challenger.

[CL @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:54PM]

They have to sell it in Europe first...
that being said, I am curious how it handles in a full blown road course not just the over hyped "0-60" time.

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Dec 2nd 2008 5:01PM]

UK top gear is the only one to watch. You know how jezza is with electric cars.

[iEye @ Dec 2nd 2008 5:09PM]

As much as I hate anything Chrystler that is not a '72 roadrunner and such...

I have to say that the Challenger is sweeeeet..

Good show, now if only the rest of the lineup was not shite they would be buying GM and not the other way around...

[Kaz @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:23PM]

Forget the Holmes reference, what is more off the mark is the remark about him "being loaded from Tesla... unless I missed something, they are still burning through VC money and unless they went totally unethical on their backers, no one is rich yet

[bangladeshiluv @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:23PM]

RIP tesla

[bandigolo @ Dec 2nd 2008 4:55PM]

I think Tesla should spend more money on R&D and less money on photographs of themselves looking like total douchebags.

[Jeff Stoelker @ Dec 2nd 2008 6:01PM]

This company is a big soap opera.

[Asher @ Dec 2nd 2008 9:15PM]

So sad. I had such high hopes for Tesla, but bad management and a bad economy are going to sink the whole thing. I can see the supposed follow-up $50k, 4-door sedan slipping away from me a little further with each news report.

[lens42 @ Dec 2nd 2008 10:47PM]

I'm sure Darryl Siry is fine guy, but I don't see how Tesla *ever* needed a marketing VP. They make one car a week and have two years of production essentially sold. Siry can't take credit for that. Any electric car company that actually manages to *sell* something has no trouble finding customers.

This is actually good news for Tesla fans. The bad news is that they wasted money on this position for so long. They need to make cars, not brochures or press releases.

[jake @ Dec 3rd 2008 1:35AM]

Actually they make 15 cars a week and plan to ramp up to 30 by December. Yes they have a lot of orders but primarily it's based in the US, where they got plenty of free press. In the Europe market they had to do a lot of marketing which Darryl Siry handled. The title also involves sales so it's not just marketing.

They also have a much higher volume sedan coming up and no doubt that will require some marketing.

[lens42 @ Dec 3rd 2008 1:59AM]

@jake - OK, I got the number wrong, but the point is still valid. A company needs high priced marketing and sales when they have competition, or need to educate the public about their product. It's admittedly an unusual situation for a modern business, but Tesla needs neither marketing or sales until they can make enough cars to fill demand. Once that is close to happening, I can see spending money on those positions, but right now they have nothing to do with improving their cash position, survival, or future.

[Osayi @ Dec 3rd 2008 2:01AM]

I think Darryl's replacement is this guy: Michael van der Sande, SVP of Global Sales, Marketing and Service.

Check it out here: http://www.teslamotors.com/blog2/?p=67

[xrayspec @ Dec 3rd 2008 11:06PM]

Loaded with what? Debt? Those stock options are a long way from paying off ..