Elon Musk accuses Tesla worker of sabotage

Tesla chief Elon Musk has claimed a disgruntled employee has broken into the US car-maker's manufacturing operations system and sent highly sensitive data to unknown third parties.

In an email to employees, Musk claimed the rogue worker's motivation was that they had been denied a promotion.

In the staff memo, which was subsequently leaked to US network CNBC, Musk claimed "quite extensive and damaging sabotage" was done to Tesla operations.

In response to Musk's claims, Tesla has reportedly begun an in-depth investigation into the incident to find out if the worker involved was acting alone or under the direction of another company.

Shares in the EV maker fell by 2.3 per cent in early trading following the revelation that troubled Tesla could be a victim of sabotage.

"The full extent of his actions are not yet clear, but what he has admitted so far is pretty bad," Musk told employees in his email.

"As you know there are a long list of organisations that want Tesla to die," he added, before going on to cite Wall Street short-sellers, oil and gas companies and rival car-makers as being among them.

In a separate email to staff, Musk went on to confirm there had been a small fire at a Tesla factory on Sunday.

It was quickly extinguished and did not cause any injuries or significant damage, Tesla CEO added.

It's not thought the factory fire and claims of sabotage are related, but the fire follows a recent video tweeted by US actress Mary McCormack, whose husband's Tesla Model 3 recently caught fire in Los Angeles.

Tesla responded by saying the Model 3 fire was an "extraordinarily unusual occurrence" and is reported to be investigating.

Last week Tesla said around nine per cent of its workforce would be cut as part of a general restructuring following delays in Model 3 production. Tesla is yet to make a profit in the 15 years it has been manufacturing cars.