Tesla Makes China Head Tom Zhu Highest-profile Executive After Elon Musk: Reuters

(RTTNews) - Tom Zhu, Tesla's China head, has been promoted to take over responsibilities of the electric carmaker's U.S. assembly plants as well as sales operations in North America and Europe, according to Reuters.

Last month, the wire had reported a rumor that Zhu, president of Tesla China, would replace Musk as CEO of Tesla.

The report says that Tesla posting showed that Zhu's title of vice president for Greater China had not changed and that he also retained his responsibilities as Tesla's most senior executive for sales in the rest of Asia as of Tuesday.

Zhu has now become the highest-profile executive at Tesla after Musk, with direct oversight for deliveries in all of its major markets and operations of its key production hubs.

Several investors in Tesla had called for Musk to resign after the company's market capitalization plummeted by over $700 billion last year. The company's market cap more than halved last year after Musk agreed a $44 billion takeover of Twitter as well as due to concerns about deliveries as China's struggle to contain COVID-19 cases led to a slump in production.