San Francisco, March 29 (IANS): Electric Vehicle (EV) maker Tesla's CEO Elon Musk emailed staffers to explain the situation at the company in the wake of his announcement of closing several of its retail stores and go all-in with online car sales.

"In a new email to employees, Tesla CEO Elon Musk acknowledged some 'uncertainty' among the company's salespeople regarding the sales strategy transition as he tries to reassure them with more details about his plans and expectations," the Electrek reported on Thursday.

"Stores with a high visitation rate and that lead to significant sales will absolutely not be closed down. It would not make any sense to do so, except in rare cases where the rent is absurdly high. Moreover, Tesla will continue to open stores throughout the world that meet the above criteria," Musk wrote in an email to his employees.

Meanwhile, stores that are in a location with low visitation rates (i.e. empty most of their opening hours) and lead to low sales would be gradually shut down.

When the EV maker launched its long-promised $35,000 version of the Model 3 earlier in March, Musk said they plan to make that price viable by moving all sales online only, thus, closing stores and reducing retail headcount.

The announcement was followed by a slashing of retail employees compensation and closure of the first set of stores.