Indian-origin Tesla CFO Deepak Ahuja quits, company stocks fall by 5 per cent

After Tesla reported $139 million profit for the fourth quarter of 2018, generating a record $7.2 billion in revenue, its Founder and CEO Elon Musk dropped a bomb, saying the company`s Indian-origin Chief Financial Officer Deepak Ahuja will be retiring.

In an earnings call with analysts late Wednesday, Musk said that Ahuja`s retirement "won`t be immediate" and that "he will continue to serve as a senior adviser to the company".

Following the announcement, Tesla stocks fell about 5 per cent in after-hours trading. Zach Kirkhorn, the company`s current Vice President of Finance, will replace Ahuja.

"There is no good time to make this change. It`s a new chapter, a new year. Tesla has had two great quarters of profitability and cash flow, it`s on a really solid foundation," Ahuja told analysts.

Ahuja, who worked out of Tesla`s San Carlos headquarters, quit Tesla in 2015, only to rejoin in 2017.

Tesla`s Chief Accounting Officer has also left the company after less than a month. Earlier in the day, riding on the success of its Model 3 car, Tesla reported revenue for the full year at $21.4 billion -- another record for the electric car maker.

With nearly 140,000 units sold, Model 3 was also the best-selling premium vehicle (including SUVs) in the US for 2018 -- the first time in decades an American carmaker has been able to secure the top spot.

"In 2019, full-year Model 3 volumes will grow substantially over 2018 due to a full year of high production rates at our Fremont facility," said Tesla in a statement.

"In Q4, we delivered 63,359 Model 3 vehicles to customers in North America. In January 2019, we started to produce Model 3 vehicles for Europe and China, and the car is now fully certified for sale in these markets," the company added.

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In January, Tesla started construction of Gigafactory Shanghai.

"Local manufacturing is an essential component of our ability to provide to customers in the region a truly affordable version of Model 3," said Tesla.