Tesla co-founder, CTO JB Straubel to step down

The executive will transition to an advisory role.

Tesla co-founder and chief technology officer JB Straubel will be stepping down from his executive role at the automaker.

"I want to thank JB for his fundamental role in creating and building Tesla," CEO Elon Musk said during the company's Q2 analyst call. "If we hadn't had lunch in 2003, Tesla wouldn't exist, basically."

The move represents the most significant executive departure in a series of executive shakeups that have occurred regularly in recent years as Tesla transitions from a niche startup to a major global automaker.

Straubel will continue to work with Tesla as an adviser. During the call, he attempted to clarify that "this was not some ... lack of confidence in the company or the team or anything like that."

Tesla's current VP of technology, Drew Baglino, has been picked as Straubel's successor.