Dave Morton joined Tesla in early August, having previously been chief financial officer (CFO) at digital storage specialist Seagate. The day after his arrival, Tesla founder Elon Musk tweeted he was considering taking the company private with ‘funding secured,’ although the projected bid did not materialise.

In a regulatory filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Morton stated: ‘Since I joined Tesla on August 6th, the level of public attention placed on the company, as well as the pace within the company, have exceeded my expectations. As a result, this caused me to reconsider my future.

‘I want to be clear that I believe strongly in Tesla, its mission, and its future prospects, and I have no disagreements with Tesla’s leadership or its financial reporting.’

Tesla said its accounting functions and personnel will continue to be overseen by both Tesla’s CFO and its corporate controller, who were in place prior to Morton’s appointment. CFO Deepak Ahuja first joined the company from Ford in 2008 and retired in 2015, having steered it through the financial crisis. He then re-joined Tesla last year.

The electric car maker has been rocked by a series of management resignations, including its heads of communications and of human resources, while Musk has attracted considerable controversy over images of him smoking cannabis whilst giving an online interview.

Tesla lost nearly $2bn (£1.55bn) in 2017, following previous losses of $675m in 2016 and $889m in 2015. In April, Musk predicted the carmaker would be will be profitable in the second half of this year.

Report by Pat Sweet