Tesla ditching two paint options to simplify manufacturing

Yuriko Nakao | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Elon Musk, co-founder and chief executive officer of Tesla 

Tesla will scrap some paint options for the firm’s luxury electric cars on Wednesday to ease the manufacturing process, CEO Elon Musk said.

The carmaker is ditching two colors — “obsidian black” and “metallic silver” — but both will remain available so long as customers are willing to pay more.

“Moving 2 of 7 Tesla colors off menu on Wednesday to simplify manufacturing,” the firm’s chief said in a tweet Tuesday. “Obsidian Black & Metallic Silver will still be available as special request, but at higher price.”

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Tesla’s decision to pull two color options for its vehicles follows a flurry of headlines about the automaker and its boss Musk.

The company was hit with the loss of two C-suite executives last week as an interview between the firm’s chief and comedian Joe Rogan went viral.

On Rogan’s “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, Musk smoked marijuana, sipped a glass of whiskey and showed off his tunnelling firm’s flamethrower, while discussing a number of issues including humanity, artificial intelligence and Tesla.

The next day, Chief Account Officer Dave Morton and Chief People Officer Gaby Toledano both resigned from Tesla. Sarah O’Brien, the firm’s vice president of communications, also left but her departure had been announced by the company last month. Overall, 41 executives have left Tesla this year.