Tesla China Gets New Legal Rep: Is Boss Tom Zhu Leaving For Promotion?

More signs are pointing to the potential for Tom Zhu to leave Tesla China for a bigger role at the company.

By: Steven Loveday

Dec 28, 2022 at 9:06am ET

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Tom Zhu is currently Tesla's global vice president, as well as the CEO of Tesla China. What some people may not know is that the executive was also Tesla Shanghai's legal representative. However, according to Teslarati, the company has appointed a new person to that position.

There was talk not long ago that Tesla CEO Elon Musk may be considering appointing Tom Zhu as the automaker's global CEO. Further reports suggested that Zhu may not be up for that specific position, but could certainly be looking at some sort of major promotion.

Zhu is highly respected in China and at Tesla in general. He just recently brought a team of employees to the States to help boost production at Tesla's Giga Texas and the Fremont factory in California. At this point, the Tesla exec is still listed as the chairman at Tesla Shanghai, but Wang Hao, Tesla China's general manager, has taken over the legal role.

The information was first reported by Qichacha, an online database of companies and organizations in China. The tweets below shed more light on the situation:

Zhu has been with Tesla since 2014 and moved up the promotion chain multiple times. Much like Musk, he's often in the public eye, he spends time at the factory with the workers, and he doesn't have a fancy office or desk. Zhu has also been known to spend time "living" at the factory, which was reportedly the case amid COVID-19 lockdowns.

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Since then, Zhu has made his way to our shores to assist with the ramp-up at Tesla's Giga Texas. Some reports suggest he will eventually head up the Cybertruck team, or perhaps by the boos of manufacturing as a whole. His team from China that's been helping streamline operations at Tesla's original Fremont factory may actually still be at the site through the end of the year.

At this point, there's no way to know exactly where Tom Zhu will end up, but it seems more clear each day that he could be considering leaving China and moving to a more global role at Tesla.

Source: Teslarati