Tesla executive and a confidant of CEO Elon Musk, Omead Ashfar, has left the company, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Ashfar, who was part of the CEO’s office at Tesla, had started overseeing sales and manufacturing operations in Europe and North America last year, the report added.

Demand in both regions has softened, partly due to a backlash surrounding Musk’s growing political involvement.

Tesla and Musk did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment, while Ashfar could not be reached.

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(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)