Tom Zhu, Tesla’s China president, has taken over responsibility for sales, service, and delivery in North America. Reuters reported on Monday.
Zhu now holds the position of Tesla’s highest-profile executive after Elon Musk. He is in charge of all deliveries to the company’s core regions and all production outside the still-expanding German Tesla site.
Zhu, a veteran at Tesla who joined the EV company in 2014, oversaw the construction and operation of the Gigafactory Shanghai. Zhu was one of the first workers to spend time at the facility while Shanghai was under COVID lockdown to keep it running. Under his leadership, Tesla has expanded in China, from building the Shanghai Gigafactory to becoming a significant export hub.
Furthermore, he has assisted the firm in expanding its Supercharger network, and earlier reports from China indicated that he had been tasked with overseeing Tesla’s Asia Pacific operations.
When Tesla posted a photo on Twitter last month to mark its Austin, Texas, plant reaching a Model Y production goal, Zhu was among hundreds of employees applauding.
Zhu’s latest position is perfect in terms of timing since Musk is preoccupied with his new toy, Twitter. Tesla analysts and investors have urged Musk to utilize this opportunity and free up his time to concentrate on Tesla.
According to the Tesla notification, Zhu would be responsible for managing the Fremont manager, the vice president in charge of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and the vice president of North American sales and service.
The notification also said that Zhu continues to be the focal person for Tesla’s country managers in China, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.
