Earlier, Chinese media reported that Elon Musk is considering stepping down as CEO of Tesla and naming Tesla China President Tom Zhu as worldwide CEO.
According to Bloomberg, Tom Zhu is already in the United States. Nonetheless, according to the same publication, Zhu is there to oversee the Giga Texas ramp-up, not to replace Musk. Zhu brought a Chinese engineering team to manage Giga Texas operations.
Tom Zhu, who joined Tesla in April 2014, is now in charge of Tesla operations throughout Asia-Pacific. He began as the country’s director of Tesla’s Supercharger program.
He is definitely more than equipped to assist Giga Texas boost up production, lending credence to the possibility of a promotion. Zhu has played a key role in Tesla’s success in China, notably an exponential surge in sales. He was instrumental in the development of Giga Shanghai, which is now Tesla’s principal export base. He also played a key role in establishing Service Centers throughout China.
The report does not specify how long Zhu and his staff will be in the United States or whether he will continue to be responsible for China and the Asia-Pacific region.
Musk has stated numerous times over the years that he never wanted to be Tesla’s CEO. He claims that his duties at Tesla are not CEO-related, and he refers to himself as more of an engineer. He has already stated that now that he is also the CEO of Twitter, he expects to find someone else to fill the Tesla role once he is ready to handover.