#特斯拉 #
- Zhu Xiaotong, who has been with Tesla since 2014, describes herself as "tenacious" and known for being hands-on
- Reports and YouTube videos show that Zhu is dedicated to serving Tesla, with former and current employees describing him as pragmatic and responsive
Tom Zhu, CEO of Tesla China, spoke at Photo: Reuters
Last month, in a Twitter photo celebrating Tesla's production of 3,000 Model Y a week at its Texas factory, Zhu Xiaotong (pseudonym Tom Zhu) stood smiling to the left of the crowd wearing a reflective vest and a black hat with a white logo on it. The "T" stands for Tesla.
Zhu, who leads the U.S. automaker's Asia-Pacific operations and oversees its Shanghai plant, the company's most productive plant in the world, was transferred to Austin late last year to help manage Tesla's newest factory.
Although Tesla has not made any announcements or appointed him as an executive officer, it is understood that Zhu is now responsible for overseeing global automobile production, sales and service, a level of responsibility that can be said to be second only to CEO Elon Musk.
So who is Zhu, whose role is more important given Musk's undivided attention to Twitter and shareholders' demands for more transparency about Musk's next successor?
Born in China and reportedly holding a New Zealand passport, Zhu joined Tesla in early 2014 to help build its network of Superchargers. Prior to that, he helped set up an international engineering consulting firm for Chinese contractors looking to expand overseas. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Information Technology from Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand, followed by an MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.
Zhu quickly rose through the ranks at Tesla, becoming China operations manager at the end of his first year. Under his remit, Tesla's Shanghai factory — the company's first outside the U.S. — was built at breakneck speed, going from a muddy patch of land to a gleaming factory producing electric cars in less than 12 months. Even before volume production began at the end of 2019, Mr. Zhu was promoted to Global Vice President and President of Greater China.
Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory is the company's first outside the United States. Getty Images
Last July, as the automaker expanded in Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore, he was further promoted to oversee all of Tesla's operations in the Asia-Pacific region. Zhu's China team also won Musk's praise for "3am refueling" as they worked around the clock to keep the Shanghai plant running during the Covid lockdown in Shanghai. During an exceptionally difficult final 12 months, the plant was upgraded to increase its annual production capacity to 1 million electric vehicles.
Tesla produced more than 710,000 vehicles in China last year, or about 52 percent of the company's global production. Zhu's work ethic was on full display during the lockdown – when movement restrictions were first introduced, he stayed in the factory, sleeping in the factory with several security personnel who ensured the facilities were not damaged. He stayed there for two full months when Tesla ran its closed-loop production system, and workers were brought back to work in a bubble environment isolated from the outside world.
Tesla Photo: Bloomberg showroom in Changtai Plaza in Shanghai, China
The few YouTube videos and local language media reports in which Zhu appeared indicate that he is fully committed to Tesla, even including his dressing — he almost always wears a Tesla-branded cardigan. He lives in a government-subsidized two-bedroom rental apartment about a 10-minute drive from the factory and rents less than 2,000 yuan ($300) a month. Most of his family lives in Beijing, about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) away.
In an interview with Chinese media last year, Zhu said he usually starts work around 6 a.m. to catch up with his North American colleagues before they leave work in the evening. He then travels to the factory, sometimes carpooling with other employees living in the same complex.
"The atmosphere is good," Zhu said. "Say, you help me get the package, I'll bring you something." It's a great way to work and live. ”
Zhu said that as soon as he arrived at the factory, he spent time walking through the production lines of various workshops and talking to engineers to solve technical problems.
"At our company, most of what you do is done with your hands, which gets your hands dirty," he said, explaining why he wears reflective jackets and safety helmets most of the time. Office nearby:
In the office, Zhu shares an open space with many others, including production director Song Gang, and sits at a standing desk. He was often found there after midnight.
Several current and former Tesla China employees described Mr. Zhu as pragmatic and responsive, noting that he tends to respond to emails and messages in a timely manner around the clock. In an interview with Duke University's Fuqua School, Zhu described himself as "tenacious."
He tells the story of how a strong storm and drainage problems threatened part of the roof to collapse after the Shanghai plant was built. Zhu and about 30 others, from new to senior employees, all climbed onto the roof in the heavy rain with plastic buckets to "defend our property."
"The company's culture is not to waste resources and time on fancy and meaningless things," Zhu said in a recent rare video interview with PCAuto, a local car review site. "Focus your main energy and resources on what really matters. We don't have a huge administration here to serve the management. Book your own tickets and grab your own food. Everyone is used to it, this is the embodiment of true equality, right? ”
Zhu avoided the spotlight and hurried away from public appearances at the Shanghai factory, such as handing over the keys to the original owner of the Model 3 in December 2019.
He does, though, communicate regularly with Musk, who last visited China before the pandemic in 2019.
Musk walked past Photo: Reuters, a large screen showing Tesla's Model 3
On an earnings call in April of that year, Musk said the progress at the Shanghai factory "is a testament to our team's ability to execute well on the ground." I get emails every day from Tom Zhu, the Gigafactory project leader, with a dozen photos."
In a truly egalitarian way, Zhu said that everyone can connect with the big names at the top.
"Of course, in China, it's not just me who can communicate with Musk," Zhu said in a recent interview. "Actually all of our employees, you can just ask anyone in the factory how to contact Musk. They all know Musk's email address and can reply to him directly. ”
Published by Bloomberg
on 3:00am, 10 Jan, 2023