Elon Musk has tapped a longtime Tesla executive in China who oversaw construction of the Shanghai gigfactory to help run the automaker’s newest plant in Austin, Texas, people familiar with the matter said.
Tom Zhu, who joined Tesla in 2014 to help build its Supercharger network and most recently has been heading the automaker’s Asia Pacific operations, is in Austin this week and has brought some of his engineering team from China with him to assist in overseeing the ramp up of Giga Texas — a U.S. hub for the Model Y and future production of the Cybertruck — the people said, asking not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
It’s not clear how long Zhu will be in Austin for, or whether he will retain his Asia responsibilities, the people said.