In a Twitter photo celebrating Tesla Inc. producing 3,000 Model Ys a week at its Texas factory last month, Zhu Xiaotong, who goes by Tom Zhu, stood smiling to the left of the large crowd in a hi-visibility vest and black cap imprinted with a white “T” for Tesla.Zhu, who spearheaded the US carmaker’s Asia Pacific operations and oversaw Tesla’s factory in Shanghai become its most productive in the world, was brought over to Austin late last year to help run the company’s newest plant. Although Tesla hasn’t made any formal announcement and has yet to name him as an executive officer, it’s understood Zhu is now overseeing global automotive production, sales and service, a level of responsibility arguably second only to Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk.
So who is Zhu, whose role is all the more important in light of Musk’s preoccupation with Twitter Inc. and shareholder demands for more transparency about who’s next in line after Musk?
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