Zhu Xiaotong, also known as Tom Zhu, smiled in a vest and a black hat with a white “T” for Tesla in a Twitter post celebrating Tesla manufacturing 3,000 Model Ys a week at its Texas factory last month. Zhu, who oversaw the US automaker’s operations in Asia-Pacific and managed its Shanghai factory to become the company’s most productive in the world, was sent to Austin late last year to assist with running Tesla’s newest plant, as reported by the South China Morning Post.
It is claimed that Zhu is now in charge of worldwide automotive production, sales, and service—a degree of authority that is perhaps second only to that of Tesla CEO Elon Musk—despite the fact that Tesla has not yet made any announcements or designated him as an executive officer.
Early life and education
Zhu was born in China and is said to also have a New Zealand passport. Prior to that, he contributed to the establishment of an international engineering consultancy that offered support to Chinese contractors wanting to expand overseas. He graduated from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business after obtaining a bachelor of commerce in information technology from New Zealand’s AUT, as reported by the South China Morning Post.
Tom Zhu’s Tesla run
Zhu joined Tesla in early 2014 to help expand its Supercharger network. By the end of his first year at Tesla, Zhu had swiftly risen through the ranks and was in charge of the China operations. Under his leadership, Tesla’s Shanghai factory—the company’s first site outside the US—materialized quickly, transforming from a muddy field to a dazzling assembly line for electric vehicles in less than a year. Zhu was elevated to the positions of president of Greater China and worldwide vice president before mass production even began at the end of 2019.
He was promoted in July of last year when the automaker expanded into Thailand, Hong Kong, and Singapore. He now has overall responsibility for Tesla Asia-Pacific. Musk also commended Zhu’s China team for “burning the 3 am oil” when they toiled nonstop to keep the Shanghai factory running throughout the city’s Covid lockdowns. The company underwent improvements to increase manufacturing capacity to 1 million electric vehicles annually during what was an incredibly challenging final year.
What do Tom Zhu’s co-workers say about him?
Zhu is seen as practical and responsive by a number of current and former Tesla China employees, who point out that he frequently responds to emails and texts quickly and at all hours of the day. Zhu referred to himself as “tenacious” in an interview with Duke’s Fuqua School.
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In April of that year, Musk stated that development at the Shanghai factory during an earnings call was a “testament to the outstanding execution of our team on the ground there. I get daily emails with a dozen pictures from one day to the next from Tom Zhu, who leads the Gigafactory programme”.
