Zhu and a team of his reports were brought in by Tesla late last year to troubleshoot production issues in the United States, raising an expectation among his colleagues that he was being groomed for a bigger role. was going.
Zhu’s appointment to the global role comes at a time when Musk has been distracted by Twitter and Tesla acquisitions, with analysts and investors urging action that would deepen the senior executive bench and allow him to focus on Tesla. Will give
Under Zhu, Tesla’s Shanghai plant made a strong comeback from the COVID lockdown in China.
Tesla said on Monday it delivered 405,278 vehicles in the fourth quarter, well below Wall Street estimates, according to data compiled by Refinitiv.
The company had delivered 308,600 vehicles during the same period a year ago.
Tesla managers reporting to Zhu include: Jason Shawhan, director of manufacturing at the Gigafactory in Texas; Hrishikesh Sagar, senior director of manufacturing at Tesla’s Fremont factory; Joe Ward, Vice President in charge of Europe, Middle East and Africa; and Troy Jones, vice president of sales and service for North America, on the reporting lines reviewed, according to the Tesla notice.
The notice showed that Tesla country managers in China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand continued to report to Zhu.
Zhu, who was born in China but now holds a New Zealand passport, joined Tesla in 2014. Prior to that he was a project manager at a company founded by his MBA classmates at Duke University, advising Chinese contractors working on infrastructure projects in Africa.
During Shanghai’s two-month COVID lockdown, Zhu was among the first batch of workers to sleep at the factory as they sought to keep it running, people who worked with him have said.
Zhu, a no-fuss manager who sports a buzz cut, favors a Tesla-branded fleece jacket and lives in a government-subsidized apartment a 10-minute drive from the Shanghai Gigafactory. It was not immediately clear whether he would move on after the promotion.
He is taking charge of Tesla’s main production centers at a time when the company is preparing to launch the Cybertruck and an upgraded version of its Model 3 sedan.
When Tesla posted a photo on Twitter last month to celebrate its Austin, Texas, plant hitting a production milestone for its Model Y, Zhu was one of hundreds of workers smiling on the factory floor.
Allen Wang, who was promoted to vice president in charge of sales in China in July, was last month listed as the legal representative for operations in registration papers filed with Chinese regulators in a change by the company.
Tesla board member James Murdoch said in November the company had recently identified a potential successor to Musk, without naming the person. Murdoch did not respond to a request for comment.
Electrek previously reported that Zhu will be responsible for US sales, distribution and service.
