Tesla’s president of their China and Asia Pacific operations Tom Zhu has taken on more responsibilities for the company’s global operations. Zhu has been promoted and is now responsible for Tesla’s North American factories and the company’s sales, service, and delivery operations in both North America and Europe.
The new responsibilities were reported by Reuters, who said they had seen an internal posting of the company’s organizational chart which included Zhu’s new responsibilities. According to Reuters, Zhu’s official title of vice president for Tesla China and Asia Pacific region has remained, the latter part of which he assumed in another promotion last year.
With the latest promotion, Zhu is now second in command at Tesla, behind only CEO Elon Musk, and is responsible for sales in all of their major regions, and responsible for all of their factories, except Giga Berlin.
Rumours have been swirling for months that the head of Tesla China was going to be promoted into a bigger role within the company, possibly even replacing Musk as CEO after he was brought over to help increase production at Fremont and Giga Texas last year.
Those rumours heated up last month when Zhu officially stepped down as legal representative for Tesla Co., Ltd. in China, a signal that he was preparing to take on a bigger role within Tesla.
Zhu started with Tesla in 2014 to lead its Supercharger network development in China. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Auckland University of Technology and a Master of Business Administration from Duke University. Under Zhu’s leadership Tesla China has grown rapidly and Giga Shanghai is one of Tesla’s most productive factories, a feat that has been accomplished just a few years after it first opened.
