AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)01/03 Report--

According to several media reports, Zhu Xiaotong, CEO of Tesla Greater China, has been promoted to a global management position, responsible for Tesla's production business in the United States and sales operations in North America and Europe. Meanwhile, Zhu Xiaotong will continue to serve as Tesla's top executive in charge of sales in China and other parts of Asia. It is understood that the news came from an internal announcement of Tesla, which also means that Zhu Xiaotong will be responsible for the delivery of all Tesla's major markets, as well as all production outside Tesla's German factory.

In response, Tesla insiders responded that they had not received an internal email about Zhu Xiaotong's promotion.

It is worth noting that in December last year, it was reported that Zhu Xiaotong might succeed Musk as Tesla's global CEO. However, in response to the news, Tesla China responded: "No comment." However, prior to this, Tesla's legal representatives of a number of companies in China were replaced, and this series of actions were also suspected by the outside world that Zhu Xiaotong might have a new task.

It is understood that Zhu Xiaotong has left office as the legal representative of many Tesla branches in China. On November 21 last year, Zhu Xiaotong stepped down as the legal representative of Tesla's second-hand car company, Ludos Automobile sales and Service (Beijing) Co., Ltd., which was replaced by Wang Hao. The legal representative of Tesla Automobile sales and Service (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. was changed from Zhu Xiaotong to Wang Hao. On December 22nd, Zhu Xiaotong stepped down as legal representative and general manager of Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., which was replaced by Wang Hao, but Zhu Xiaotong remained chairman of the company. Relevant information shows that Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. was established in May 2018, with a registered capital of 4.67 billion yuan, wholly owned by Tesla Automobile Hong Kong Co., Ltd., is Tesla's main operator in China.

According to public data, Zhu Xiaotong was born in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, graduated from Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand and received an MBA from Duke University's Fuca School of Business in the United States. After graduation, Zhu Xiaotong has many entrepreneurial experiences, has participated in the founding of Kai Bo International, engaged in property management and project implementation related work.

He joined Tesla in April 2014 as the project director of Tesla supercharging station. In December 2014, he took over as Tesla's vice president and president of China. In 2018 and 2019, Zhu Xiaotong was successively elected as Tesla's global vice president and president of Greater China, responsible for leading the Greater China business and responsible for the construction and operation of Tesla's super factory in Shanghai. Since then, after taking full control of Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, Zhu Xiaotong has been in charge of business in the Asia-Pacific region, including Singapore, Japan and South Korea.

According to the concern of the automobile industry, Tesla currently has four super factories in the world, namely, the Fremont factory in California, the super factory in Shanghai, China, the Berlin factory in Germany, and the Texas factory in the United States. The Shanghai factory is an outstanding super factory among Tesla's many factories, which is of great significance to Tesla, which plays an important role in domestic sales and external supply.

According to the data, Tesla produced a total of 936000 electric vehicles worldwide in 2021, of which 484000 came from the Shanghai factory. 321000 of the 484000 electric vehicles produced by Tesla's Shanghai factory were sold in China, and the remaining 163000 were exported to more than 10 countries, including Japan and Europe. To some extent, the Shanghai Super Factory is a vital and indispensable part of Tesla's production system, and the achievements of Tesla's Shanghai factory may also be closely related to Zhu Xiaotong's leadership. In addition, according to earlier media reports, Zhu Xiaotong went to Tesla's factories in California and Texas in December to help monitor his capacity expansion. Tesla also appeared in the factory photo released by Tesla as he celebrated the Texas superfactory's new milestone in weekly production of 3000 Model Ys.

Judging from these signs, Tesla Musk is entrusted with an important task for Zhu Xiaotong. Some industry insiders pointed out that it may be because after Tesla Musk bought Twitter, it is very difficult to take care of the management of many companies at the same time, and Zhu Xiaotong's outstanding performance in Tesla's Shanghai factory is not difficult for Musk to become the candidate of choice. In addition, Tesla is currently in the stage where delivery can not catch up with production, and Zhu Xiaotong may be one of the few candidates who can better connect with Musk's management philosophy.

Figures show that Tesla produced 439701 cars and delivered 405278 vehicles worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2022, which was lower than Wall Street had expected for 429000 deliveries. For the whole year, in 2022, Tesla produced a total of 1369611 cars worldwide and delivered a total of 1313851 vehicles. Although in 2022, Tesla's global production and delivery volume exceeded 1 million for the first time, and the delivery volume increased by more than 40 percent over the same period last year, it still failed to meet Wall Street expectations, nor did it meet Tesla's previous annual sales target of 1.5 million vehicles.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat