Tesla China’s president Tom Zhu is reported to advance to the CEO position as the automaker’s current CEO Elon Musk is speculated to appoint him, as per CnEVPost.
It is worth noting that Zhu is also Tesla’s global VP. According to Chinese media outlet Ping West cited by CnEVPost, Tom Zhu will oversee Tesla’s operations related to automotive. That said, he would not cover the supervision of the automaker’s other projects like the FSD technology and robotics programs.
Why is Tom Zhu qualified for the CEO position?
Tom Zhu was first hired as Tesla China’s director of the Supercharger network in April 2014. After five years, he is reportedly promoted to Tesla China’s President and global VP.
On July 8, Zhu’s supervision scope was reported to expand to the Asia-Pacific region.
The report claimed that Zhu worked with Musk on several international issues as soon as Giga Shanghai was released from the mandatory COVID-19 lockdown. During that second part of the year, he stayed in Tesla’s headquarters in Austin, Texas, and Gigafactory in Fremont, California.
Besides, Zhu’s characteristics are close to Elon Musk’s. The Chinese media outlet claimed that they are both workaholics and strict with employees.
For instance, Zhu had spent two months living at Giga Shanghai during the plant’s initial stages of production resumption after its COVID-related shutdown in March and April. Likewise, Musk stayed at the Tesla Gigafactory in Fremont for the company’s vehicle deliveries and at Twitter as soon as he completed the acquisition deal.
In retrospect, Tesla board member James Murdoch claimed at the company’s shareholder’s lawsuit that CEO Elon Musk has already named a potential successor. However, he did not identify the person he was talking about.
It should be recalled, though, that the Chinese media outlet that reported this information has a questionable track record of covering Tesla. A recent defamation lawsuit brought by the automaker against PingWest stemmed from one of their earlier articles. It demanded to remove the article that referred to Giga Shanghai as a “sweatshop,” publish an apology and make a financial settlement to Tesla.
That said, it is difficult to foresee whether Zhu’s promotion to CEO will actually occur. The claim is actually not that improbable, given that Tesla’s current CEO appears more focused on his Twitter ambitions. Let’s wait and see whether the leading American automaker makes an official announcement about this matter.
