Photo: Duke University's Fuqua School of Business
Rumors about the promotion of Tesla China boss Tom Zhu proved mostly true. Although he has not replaced Musk as Tesla’s CEO just yet, Zhu will take direct oversight of the electric carmaker’s U.S. assembly plants and sales operations in North America and Europe. This makes him second-in-command at Tesla.
A month ago, the Chinese media claimed that Tesla China’s boss Tom Zhu was set to replace Elon Musk as Tesla’s CEO. As incredible as it seemed at the time, the information was not entirely meritless. Especially after the acquisition of Twitter, Musk appeared to lose sight of Tesla, dedicating his entire time to managing Twitter and engaging with fans on social media. As such, Tesla needed a firm hand on the helm, and Musk indicated more than once that he does not necessarily like the CEO role he assumed long ago.
Almost immediately after the rumors started circulating, we discovered that Zhu had flown to the U.S. According to a Bloomberg report, Zhu and a team of engineers were brought in to oversee the production ramp-up at Giga Texas. Despite that, the Chinese media was still adamant that Zhu had more coming his way besides overseeing a small factory in the U.S. After all, he had already done that at Giga Shanghai, turning it into Tesla’s main production hub.
It appears that Tom Zhu was indeed groomed for a bigger role. A new organizational chart posted internally at Tesla and seen by Reuters confirms that Tom Zhu is now the highest-profile executive after CEO Elon Musk. The Chinese national will directly oversee Tesla’s assembly plants and sales operations in North America and Europe. At the same time, Musk will keep oversight of vehicle design and development, in which he has been deeply involved.
Previously, we’ve had conflicting information about Tom Zhu’s roles at Tesla China following the reshuffling. More specifically, Zhu was no longer Tesla China’s legal representative, although he appeared to remain Tesla China’s chairman. The new organizational chart, confirmed by Reuters with two people who had seen it, shows that both are true. Zhu remains the vice president of Greater China, and he also retained his responsibilities as Tesla’s most senior executive for sales in the rest of Asia.
The new report confirms that Zhu is probably set to be named Tesla’s CEO at some point, although this might take a while. Under the new assignment, Tesla managers reporting to Zhu include Jason Shawan, director of manufacturing at the Gigafactory in Texas, Hrushikesh Sagar, senior director of manufacturing at Tesla’s Fremont factory, Joe Ward, vice president in charge of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and Troy Jones, vice president of North America sales and service. Tesla country managers in China, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand will continue to report to Zhu under the new organizational chart.
Almost immediately after the rumors started circulating, we discovered that Zhu had flown to the U.S. According to a Bloomberg report, Zhu and a team of engineers were brought in to oversee the production ramp-up at Giga Texas. Despite that, the Chinese media was still adamant that Zhu had more coming his way besides overseeing a small factory in the U.S. After all, he had already done that at Giga Shanghai, turning it into Tesla’s main production hub.
It appears that Tom Zhu was indeed groomed for a bigger role. A new organizational chart posted internally at Tesla and seen by Reuters confirms that Tom Zhu is now the highest-profile executive after CEO Elon Musk. The Chinese national will directly oversee Tesla’s assembly plants and sales operations in North America and Europe. At the same time, Musk will keep oversight of vehicle design and development, in which he has been deeply involved.
Previously, we’ve had conflicting information about Tom Zhu’s roles at Tesla China following the reshuffling. More specifically, Zhu was no longer Tesla China’s legal representative, although he appeared to remain Tesla China’s chairman. The new organizational chart, confirmed by Reuters with two people who had seen it, shows that both are true. Zhu remains the vice president of Greater China, and he also retained his responsibilities as Tesla’s most senior executive for sales in the rest of Asia.
The new report confirms that Zhu is probably set to be named Tesla’s CEO at some point, although this might take a while. Under the new assignment, Tesla managers reporting to Zhu include Jason Shawan, director of manufacturing at the Gigafactory in Texas, Hrushikesh Sagar, senior director of manufacturing at Tesla’s Fremont factory, Joe Ward, vice president in charge of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and Troy Jones, vice president of North America sales and service. Tesla country managers in China, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand will continue to report to Zhu under the new organizational chart.
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