Become a red person around Musk, why is Zhu Xiaotong?

After 9 years at Tesla, Zhu Xiaotong was promoted to Tesla's global management position and became one of Tesla's four global executives.

On April 6, local time, Tesla disclosed in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that since April 2023, Tom Zhu has served as the senior vice president of Tesla's automotive business.

Next, Zhu Xiaotong will be responsible for Tesla's production operations, as well as sales in North America and Europe, and will continue to serve as the most senior executive of Tesla's sales in China and the rest of Asia.

In addition to Zhu Xiaotong, there are three other people in Tesla's senior management: CEO Musk, Chief Financial Officer Zach Kirkhorn, and Andrew Bagrino, senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering.

Since joining Tesla in April 2014, Zhu Xiaotong has served in a number of operational positions, gradually from supercharger project manager in China to vice president of Greater China, and many rumors have him to become Musk's successor.

Whether he will become a successor is unknown, but it is undeniable that Zhu Xiaotong has become the most legendary Chinese in the global automotive circle, and he will never stop there.

Who too?

Since the end of 2022, Zhu Xiaotong has stepped down as the legal representative of many branches of Tesla China and continues to serve as the chairman of the company, and some professionals speculate that "Musk has selected Zhu Xiaotong as the successor of Tesla's global CEO", but Tesla did not respond to this news.

Now, with Zhu Xiaotong assuming the position of global management for Tesla, he slowly came from behind the scenes to the front of the stage, known to the public, and the question followed, how did this person with black-framed glasses and full of engineering temperament step by step embark on the road to promotion at Tesla?

According to public information, Zhu Xiaotong was born in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, and the 43-year-old is a "post-80s" who is a serious child.

In 2004, Zhu Xiaotong graduated from Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand with a bachelor's degree in information technology. Four years after graduating, he attended Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, where he earned his MBA in 2010. In the United States, Duke University's Duke Fuqua School of Business is the same name as Harvard Business School, and belongs to the first echelon of American business schools.

In the process of studying, Zhu Xiaotong has accumulated a lot of work experience. In his sophomore year, he joined a small internet startup with a lot of uncertainty, and after only three months, the company went out of business. Zhu Xiaotong was not discouraged, but became more interested in entrepreneurship.

In May 2009, in her second year at Duke University, Xiaotong Zhu joined Kaibo International Engineering Consulting. In this company, relying on his knowledge and excellent work ability, Zhu Xiaotong has been promoted rapidly.

He served as Director of Corporate Strategy for seven months and then to Deputy Project Manager, then graduated from Duke University a year later as a project manager and shortly thereafter to vice president of the company, responsible for property management and project implementation.

After four years at Kairbo International, Zhu Xiaotong spent two years in Libya and Sudan, and he flew to North Africa to lead an interdisciplinary cross-cultural team in a relatively difficult environment.

At that time, the environment was difficult and the project was difficult, and his first thought was to build a team with strong pressure resistance, while giving team members enough space for development, and encouraging and trusting each other to better complete the task.

In an interview, Zhu Xiaotong said that these unique experiences have taught him many skills, and also exercised his ability to communicate, coordinate and optimize. And this also laid a stable foundation for him to enter Tesla later.

Rapid promotion

In April 2014, Zhu Xiaotong joined Tesla as the project manager of China Supercharger, leading the development of Supercharger stations in China. During this period, Tesla built nearly 40 Supercharger stations in China and more than 600 destination charging piles in more than 60 cities across the country. It can be said that in the rapid development of China's supercharging stations, Zhu Xiaotong has played an important role.

The main task of setting up charging stations is to work with local governments and enterprises to expand the network in places such as shopping malls and hotel parking lots. In order to better promote the project, every place Zhu Xiaotong will patiently and meticulously explain to customers from the beginning what a charging station is and what is the significance of building it. ”

At that time, Tesla's development was not smooth, sales were sluggish, and it faced the situation of multiple executives leaving one after another.

When Zhu Xiaotong joined, Zheng Shunjing, then general manager of Tesla China, left, and eight months later, Wu Bixuan, who replaced Zheng Shunjing, chose to leave because Tesla's sales in China were far less than expected.

For a moment, this task fell on Zhu Xiaotong. On the same day, Tesla announced that Zhu Xiaotong would replace Wu Bixuan as Tesla's general manager in China, responsible for China's sales business.

Before joining Tesla, Zhu Xiaotong had no relevant work experience in the automotive field. But it only took more than half a year to become the head of the China region, and many people questioned that Zhu Xiaotong would not last long in this position like Zheng Shunjing and Wu Bixuan in front of him, but they did not expect him to stay for 3 years.

In 2018, Zhu Xiaotong served as Tesla's global vice president, responsible for leading the Greater China business and responsible for the construction and operation of Tesla's Gigafactory in Shanghai. In 2019, Zhu Xiaotong officially served as vice president of Tesla and president of Greater China.

In just 5 years, Tesla experience stores and service centers have developed rapidly in China, and more than 70 experience stores and service centers have been established in mainland China alone, and supercharging stations are located in major areas except Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai and Gansu.

Under the leadership of Zhu Xiaotong, Tesla's first factory in China, the Shanghai Gigafactory, was established and put into use at a very fast pace in 2019. Complete the project establishment, planning and site selection in 3 days, complete the factory approval in 5 months, and complete the project signing to start construction in 6 months.

In less than a year, a wasteland was turned into a shiny factory full of modern atmosphere, and Lao Mei was amazed when she saw it. Musk also praised at the shareholders' meeting at the end of 2019, "The Shanghai Gigafactory is the fastest building I have ever seen."

The establishment of the super factory has given Zhu Xiaotong another position - the head of Tesla's Shanghai factory.

In September 2019, the factory fully accepted and passed, and in October it obtained the production qualification and began to produce Model 3 non-stop, and on December 30 of the same year, the domestic Model 3 was officially delivered to employee owners at the Shanghai factory, opening the road to mass production.

In 2022, the production capacity of the Shanghai Gigafactory will exceed 750,000 units. During the year, Tesla's revenue in the Chinese market increased by 31.1% year-on-year to US$18.145 billion, accounting for about 22.27% of its total revenue.

Today, Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory is still Tesla's world's highest vehicle production capacity and Tesla's world's largest automobile export center.

Curly Master

Zhu Xiaotong gives people the feeling that he gives people an external image, concise and capable, and in terms of acting style, it is the same as Musk.

When mentioning Musk to the media, Zhu Xiaotong said: "Musk is a straightforward and even childlike person, he is resolute and demanding, such a difficult thing, if it is a very soft person, I don't want to do it with him." ”

It can be said that both have a unique "roll king" temperament, referring to Zhu Xiaotong's Chinese team, Musk praised, saying that they are "still staying up late at 3 a.m. to work", while Americans do not want to work at all.

How many volumes does Zhu Xiaotong work?

Working 24 hours a day, he can also reply to work information at three or four o'clock in the morning, and has no personal life, and he always wears a Tesla custom clothes to work.

To make it easier to work, he chose to live in a government-subsidized two-bedroom rental apartment about 10 minutes from the factory for less than 2,000 yuan, while his family lives 1,200 kilometers away in Beijing.

Because of the time difference problem with his North American colleagues, Zhu Xiaotong often starts work at 6 a.m., just to meet his North American colleagues before they leave work in the evening.

As a company executive, Zhu Xiaotong did not even arrange his own independent office. At the Shanghai Gigafactory, he shares a standing office space next to the production line with other colleagues, so that he can not only see the production line at any time, but also put on a hard hat directly into the workshop.

Every day when he arrived at the factory, Zhu Xiaotong often inspected the production lines of each workshop for the first time and discussed technical problems with the engineers. Colleagues reported that he was often there at midnight.

Responding to why there is no independent office, Zhu Xiaotong responded: "It's a startup culture where you put your energy and resources into what matters most. We don't have a huge administrative structure, or we have to serve the management, and the managers can't live and can't take care of themselves, what should they do, cook their own meals and book their own tickets. ”

After the Shanghai factory was built, after a violent storm, the drainage problem of the new plant had not yet been dealt with, and the rainwater caused the roof to collapse, Zhu Xiaotong took the lead and took the lead with 30 new and old employees to pick up plastic barrels and brave the pouring rain to go up to the roof to "protect our property."

Musk is known to often make the office his home. In order to solve Tesla's crisis, Musk slept on the floor at the Gigafactory in Fremont, and after the acquisition of Twitter, he often slept in the Twitter headquarters office.

In this regard, Zhu Xiaotong and Musk are also very similar. In order to solve the problem of the resumption of production and production capacity of the factory, Zhu Xiaotong directly lived in the factory with the workers, ate and lived together, and this stay was for two months.

"Zhu Xiaotong is capable and pragmatic in his work, and he is a practical style that is good at grasping details."

Relying on super work tenacity, during the epidemic, Zhu Xiaotong led the team to work day and night, not only maintained the operation of the Shanghai Gigafactory, but also continuously upgraded the industry, delivering 183686 cars in the first four months of 2022, Musk sighed: "Tesla China's work progress is very amazing. ”

Zhu Xiaotong is also very good at communicating with superiors. In fact, he also communicates with Musk frequently, and in an earnings call in April 2019, Musk said, "The progress of the Shanghai factory is a testament to the excellent execution of our local team." I get emails every day from Zhu Xiaotong, the project leader of the Shanghai Gigafactory, with more than a dozen photos. ”

Down-to-earth, never afraid of difficulties, actively reflect the progress of work to the leadership, have a certain understanding of technology, and can perfectly coordinate administrative and public relations work. With solid performance in hand, Zhu Xiaotong's various performances can be said to coincide with Musk's work style, and it is no wonder that the latter is willing to hand over the company to him.

The establishment and production of the Shanghai Gigafactory has made Zhu Xiaotong and gradually broadened his business scope.

Before the Shanghai factory began mass production at the end of 2019, Zhu Xiaotong had already been promoted to Tesla's global vice president and president of Greater China. In September, he was promoted to cover Tesla's entire Asia-Pacific region, including Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, where general managers report to Zhu.

At the end of 2022, handpicked by Musk, Zhu Xiaotong led the Chinese team to the Texas Gigafactory in the United States to guide and assist in the capacity expansion of the factory. The arrival of Zhu Xiaotong's team allowed the Texas Gigafactory to produce 3,000 Model Y units per week, up from 1,000 units a week.

In the future, Zhu Xiaotong may lead his team to pass on "successful experience" to more countries and regions.

Opportunities and challenges

Zhu Xiaotong was promoted to senior vice president of Tesla's automotive business, fully taking over Tesla's European and American business, and he began to be paid more and more attention.

Some professionals believe that Tesla has now entered the cycle of normal development, survival is no longer the primary issue, Musk as a manager needs to play a role in the future, more in Tesla's strategic goals, and for the company's specific administrative and management aspects, it is obvious that he has no time to take care of.

After the acquisition of Twitter, Musk had to take care of the affairs of multiple companies at the same time, even if he was called "Iron Man" by the outside world, he must have more than enough energy.

Although it is not clear whether Zhu Xiaotong will succeed Musk as the next CEO, it has become a fact that he has become Tesla's "second-in-command" after Musk as a Chinese.

At the Tesla Investor Day held on March 2, Zhu Xiaotong Zhu Xiaotong appeared in Tesla's black "Gigafactory" T-shirt. He describes himself as overseeing most of the company's operations, including global production, sales and service, and represents all of the company's super battery plants.

Referring to the Gigafactory, he said: "We did a lot of simplifications and deletions, and before there was a lot of redundancy in the buffer, we all removed. If there is a job that others can't do well, we think about doing it ourselves, and we have achieved a lot. ”

At the scene, Zhu Xiaotong talked with a number of investors, and his excellent speech and ability made investors give a high evaluation: "The next CEO after Musk." He is charismatic, concise in speaking, very intelligent, and full of urgency. He will be our Tim Cook. ”

Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of the National Passenger Vehicle Market Information Association, commented on Zhu Xiaotong: "Zhu Xiaotong's production management ability and ability to establish a low-cost supply chain system are strong, so we believe that Tesla's super profitability in China reflects Zhu Xiaotong's ability and also reflects Tesla's further improvement in this regard." ”

According to Tesla's financial report for the third quarter of 2022, Tesla achieved operating income of US$5.131 billion (about RMB 37.492 billion) in the Chinese market, a year-on-year increase of 64.8%; In the first three quarters, the Chinese market achieved operating income of 13.568 billion US dollars (about 99.141 billion yuan), a year-on-year increase of 50.5%. China is now Tesla's second-largest market in the world, accounting for 23.9% of the company's total revenue, second only to the US market.

In the first quarter of 2023, Tesla delivered 422,900 electric vehicles, up 4% sequentially and 36% year-over-year, a record high. According to the data, Tesla China's sales in March were 88,900 units, a year-on-year increase of 35%; In the first quarter of this year, Tesla's total sales in China were 229,300 units, a year-on-year increase of 21%.

In the future, the Chinese market will still be the key direction in Tesla's strategic goals.

The third chapter of Tesla's "Grand Plan" released this year aims to clarify Tesla's goal of achieving sustainable energy applications, and in the strategic table of its document, you can see Tesla's future product matrix including small electric vehicles, mid-size cars, large sedans, SUVs, trucks, heavy trucks, buses and other models.

According to Tesla's plan, in 2030, the company will deliver 20 million electric vehicles, which is also a great challenge for Zhu Xiaotong.

After Zhu Xiaotong took office, he coincided with the collapse of Tesla's stock price. Since 2022, Tesla's stock price has fallen by more than 65%, from the highest market value of $1.3 trillion at its peak to $344.5 billion today.

This time seems to be on the verge of being ordered again, no matter what the road ahead, Zhu Xiaotong has left a solid footprint on Tesla, and whether he can reverse the situation of Tesla is also waiting for many people.

Looking at the appointment and dismissal of senior executives by global international brands, there are not many executives with "Chinese origin" in high-level positions, and Tesla's appointment of Zhu Xiaotong as global management must have high hopes for it, and this has made Chinese executives in the technology circle attract attention again.

In the past, Silicon Valley had a large number of excellent Chinese managers, but for various reasons, they eventually left the market. According to reports, today's Silicon Valley, there are nearly 500,000 Chinese gathered in the field of science and technology, as a minority, there are great differences between Eastern and Western cultures and ways of thinking, and it is even more difficult to compete for a place in the white Western world.

Zhu Xiaotong's appointment may bring them more confidence, and this is just the beginning.