AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)12/09 Report--

In 2004, Elon Musk invested US $6.3 million in Tesla, which was founded by Martin Eberhard. Since then, he has become Tesla's largest shareholder and officially became Tesla's CEO in October 2008. up to now, Musk has been in the post of Tesla CEO for 14 years. On December 7th, it was reported that Zhu Xiaotong, head of Tesla China, will take over the global CEO. If the news is true, it means that Musk will step down from Tesla's global CEO position at that time.

According to several media reports, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed his potential successor-Tesla is now global vice president and Greater China CEO Zhu Xiaotong. Reported that Zhu Xiaotong may be transferred to a factory in Texas to assist in the expansion of the factory's production capacity. Tesla China has not responded to the above news. A Tesla insider told the media that although there is no clear news of "appointing Zhu Xiaotong as Tesla's global CEO," it is possible because Zhu Xiaotong has performed very well in the Chinese market.

Born in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, Zhu Xiaotong graduated from Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand and joined Tesla in April 2014 as project director of Tesla supercharging station in China. In December of the same year, Wu Bicheng, global vice president and president of Tesla in China, left, and Zhu Xiaotong took over the position and was successively responsible for the business of Tesla Greater China and the construction and operation of Tesla's super factory in Shanghai. In July this year, Zhu Xiaotong began to take charge of Tesla's business in the Asia-Pacific region while taking up his current position.

The reason why the market heard that "Tesla China head Zhu Xiaotong will take over the global CEO" or based on the rapid development of Tesla's Chinese market led by Zhu Xiaotong. At present, Tesla has four super factories, namely, the Fremont factory in California, the Shanghai super factory in China, the Berlin factory in Germany and the Texas factory in the United States. Among them, Tesla Shanghai super factory started construction in January 2019 to achieve mass production, and it took only 10 months to deliver the first batch of 15 Model 3s to internal employees at an unprecedented speed. At the shareholders' meeting at the end of 2019, Mr Musk even directly praised the Shanghai superfactory as "the fastest building I have ever seen". In view of the excellent performance of the Chinese market, Musk also selected 200 engineers from the Shanghai factory to go to the United States to direct the production of the Fremont plant in November, hoping to copy the successful experience of the Shanghai super factory to the factory in the American market. to increase production at the Fremont plant.

Up to now, the Shanghai super factory has become Tesla's super factory with the highest production capacity in the world. since the plant completed equipment upgrading in early August this year, its production capacity has increased to 1.1 million vehicles, an increase of about 127% over the same period last year. Tesla Shanghai super factory capacity can not be increased significantly without Zhu Xiaotong, an important contributor, according to reports, one of Zhu Xiaotong's daily work is to ensure the factory's production and vehicle delivery. According to the latest data from the Federation of passengers, Tesla's wholesale sales in November were 100291, an increase of 89% over the same period last year, an increase of 40% compared with the previous month, setting a new monthly delivery record, and sales in December are expected to reach about 100000. By the end of November, Tesla's Shanghai factory delivered a total of 655069 new cars in the first 11 months of 2022.

Tesla is currently preparing for a production increase in a Texas super factory. Tesla said in June 2021 that the Texas super factory could produce 1000 Model Y vehicles a week. Since then, it has been reported that the plant's capacity has fallen short of expectations. Foreign media reported that according to the plan, Tesla will significantly increase the Model Y production capacity of the Texas super factory in the first quarter of 2023 in order to prepare for the production of 75000 Model Y. by that time, the plant's weekly output may reach more than 5000.

At present, Musk has "named" Zhu Xiaotong to the United States to assist in the operation of the Texas super factory, in order to help the rapid expansion of factory capacity. Trip Chowdhry, an analyst at global equity research firm, had predicted that Tesla would deliver more than 500000 vehicles in the fourth quarter of this year, including 145000 at the Tesla Fremont plant, 246000 at the Shanghai plant, and 60, 000 at the new plants in Berlin and Texas, totaling 511000.

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