Hau Thai-Tang has risen through the ranks at Ford Motor Co. to become the company's top product and purchasing chief, and one of CEO Jim Farley's top lieutenants. His career could have gone very differently.
Lead-footed Ford exec could have led Tesla
Elon Musk reportedly asked Hau Thai-Tang to lead the electric vehicle maker in 2007 as it worked to bring its first car, the Roadster, to market.
Thai-Tang: Didn’t want CEO job
According to the new book Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk and the Bet of the Century, Musk offered Thai-Tang the role of Tesla CEO in 2007 as the company worked to bring its first car, the Roadster, to market.
Thai-Tang was coming off the launch of the 2005 Mustang, for which he was the chief engineer. Musk brought him to California to test drive the Roadster, and then-CEO Martin Eberhard reportedly said he "had rarely seen somebody drive so aggressively." Thai-Tang, according to author Tim Higgins, offered advice as well as praise, noting that "this is really amazing."
Thai-Tang ultimately wasn't interested in the job, although the book says he offered the name of a headhunter he thought Tesla could use in its executive search. The company eventually named Ze'ev Drori its CEO in late 2007, but he was replaced a year later by Musk.
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