(Reuters) -Tesla, the members of the board of directors, about a month ago, contacted several executive research firms to find a successor to the CEO Elon Musk, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the discussions.
The current status of the council's thrust, which, according to the report, was launched by the strong involvement of Musk with the Trump administration, could not be determined, WSJ said.
Musk last week said he would considerably reduce the time he spends on the Trump administration and spends more time leading his many companies.
This follows many criticisms of investors for his work at the Ministry of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), where he led efforts to reduce federal jobs, while sales of the Tesla aging range of electric electric vehicles were down.
His embrace of far-right policy in Europe has also led to demonstrations against Musk and the company as well as vandalism in its exhibition halls and its stations through the United States and Europe.
The members of the board of directors met Musk and asked him to recognize publicly that he would spend more time in Tesla, according to the report.
But it was not clear if Musk – also a member of the Board of Directors – was aware of the next generation planning, or if his commitment to spend more time in Tesla affected the efforts, added the report.
Tesla and Musk did not immediately respond to Reuters' comments.
(Report by Bipasha Dey in Bengaluru; edition by Alan Barona and Christopher Cushing)
