George Blankenship, the Tesla Motors executive and marketing guru who led Tesla Motors Inc's sales strategy and distribution network for three years, left the company last month.

Blankenship, a respected executive who helped design Apple Inc's retail experience, still appears on the Tesla website as the company's vice president of sales and ownership experience.

According to Blankenship's LinkedIn account he is now "Director of Smiles for the Blankenship Family" and "done at Tesla" as of November 2013.

Tesla has not said why Blankenship left the company yet, but Blankenship, responding to an email from the San Jose Mercury News, said he was retiring to spend more time with his family.

The departure comes at a bad time for company CEO Elon Musk, who dealing with a federal safety investigation into the Model S electric sedan after three car fires have taken place in under two months.

Musk said this week on his blog that Telsa has made a software adjustment to its Model S sedan so it "won't ride as low to the ground" at highway speeds, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

The adjustment reduces the risk of battery packs being punctured and catching fire after being hit by objects on the road, according to Musk.

Tesla is also in the middle of expanding stores in Asia, Europe, and North America.

Musk hired Blankenship from Apple in July 2010.

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