Tesla has lost two of its top car designers, including a founding member of its design studio, amid a broader talent exodus.
After a few years designing concept cars for GM, David Imai joined Tesla in 2011, when the automaker was a little-known California company trying to ramp up production of the Roadster and bring Model S, its first EV built from the ground up, to production.
He quickly became Tesla’s manager of exterior and interior design.
Imai was promoted to “Director of Design” in 2019. He has been credited for several design aspects of the Model 3. Along with Bernard Lee and Franz Von Holzhausen, he was one of Tesla’s earliest and longest standing car designer.
Earlier this month, Imai confirmed that he has left his role at Tesla to join Arc, a manufacturer of electric boats. He announced on LinkedIn:
I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be joining Arc Boats later this month as Chief Designer. In this new role, I hope to bring my experience, leadership, and passion for design to help Arc reach new horizons.
Looking into Tesla’s design team, Electrek also found that another top Tesla car designer whose departure from Tesla went unreported.
Bernard Lee came to Tesla from Mazda along with Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla’s chief designer, back in 2008. Along with von Holzhausen, he was one of the founding members of Tesla’s design studio.
His first tenure at Tesla lasted a decade during which he was credited as lead and supporting designer of many Tesla vehicles:
- 2017 Supporting Exterior Designer 2nd Gen Tesla Roadster
- 2017 Principle Exterior Designer of Model 3 Final Production
- 2016 Principle Exterior Designer of Model S 2016 Production Refresh
- 2016 Principle Exterior Designer of Model 3 Prototype
- 2015 Principle Exterior Designer of Model X Final Production
- 2012 Principle Exterior Designer of Model X Prototype
- 2012 Supporting Exterior Designer of Model S Final Production
- 2009 Supporting Interior Designer of Model S Prototype
He briefly left in 2018 to teach at the Art Center College of Design in California, where many Tesla car designers come from, but he came back in 2020.
Lee was then credited with several more designs at Tesla following his return:
- 2024 Senior Exterior Design Manager Cyber Cab Demo and Production vehicle
- 2024 Senior Exterior Manager Model 3 (highland) Standard and Performance
- 2021 Senior Exterior Design Manager Model X refresh
We now learn that Lee has also left Tesla. He updated his LinkedIn profile to confirm he left in November 2024, but his departure wasn’t reported until now.
Electrek’s Take
Top comment by CMG30
The departures will continue. While some turnover is to be expected, the exodus at Tesla would be alarming to any other major company. Tesla has lost it's way. It doesn't even call itself a car company anymore. Insiders are unloading their stock. I can't remember the last time the CEO even acknowledged that Climate change was a major issue.
The promise of working on the biggest problems are the kinds of things that motivated the love for Tesla in the first place. Now they're floundering as the CEO goes down one conspiracy rabbit hole after the next.
Congrats to both Imai and Lee who are responsible for, in my opinion, some great designs that helped the electric revolution.
At a time when automakers were often producing weird designs for electric vehicles that felt like they didn’t want to sell, Imai, Lee, and their team produced fresh yet simple designs that are still beautiful 10 years later.
Tesla still has several talented car designers on its staff, but it’s certainly going to hurt to have two of Tesla’s top car designers leaving in the space of a few months.
It’s also happening amid a broader exodus of talent at Tesla that has been going for a year since a wave of layoffs last year hurt moral at the company.
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