Musk taps Tesla’s China chief to run Texas gigafactory – Bloomberg News

(Reuters) – Tesla Inc chief Elon Musk has roped in longtime executive and the company’s president in China, Tom Zhu, to help run the carmaker’s new plant in Austin, Texas, Bloomberg News reported late on Wednesday.

Zhu, who joined Tesla in 2014 and is heading Tesla’s Asia Pacific operations, is in Austin this week. He has brought some of his engineering team from China with him to assist in overseeing the ramp-up of Giga Texas, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Giga Texas, which opened earlier this year, makes the Model Y and will produce Tesla’s upcoming Cybertruck.

It is not clear whether Zhu will retain his Asia responsibilities or for how long he will be in Austin, Bloomberg added.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the report.

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)