BEIJING (Reuters) – Tesla Inc is looking for a design director in China, as part of efforts to open a full-function studio in Shanghai or Beijing and design electric cars tailored to the taste of the Chinese consumer, according to three people with knowledge of import.
The North American automaker’s human resources managers, as well as several headhunters, have been researching the industry for the past four months, the sources said.
They are looking for “bi-cultural” candidates with 20 or more years of experience who are familiar with Chinese tastes and who can fill the gaps between China and the United States, they added.
Some candidates were interviewed by Tesla’s head of global design, Franz von Holzhausen, according to people, although it is unclear how many potential candidates were approached by the company and recruiters.
All three sources spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy and confidential nature of the matter.
Tesla and von Holzhausen did not respond to requests for comment via email.
China is the largest automotive market in the world, in addition to the largest for all-electric vehicles, with sales volumes expected to reach around 1.5 million vehicles this year, according to consultancy LMC Automotive. It is also Tesla’s No. 2 market, after the United States.
The automaker’s plans for the design studio are not fully developed, and sources believe that Tesla will likely wait for more clarity about the strained US-China relations under a new US president before making a final decision on the move and all your details.
The talent search, which the sources said was primarily focused on China, fits the comments of Tesla chief Elon Musk earlier this year.
“I think something that would be really cool would be … to create a design and engineering center in China to design an original car in China for world consumption. I think that would be very exciting, ”he said at a media event in Shanghai.
ACTIVITY FLURRY
Musk’s interest in developing cars in China is part of Tesla’s broader drive to increase the company’s global sales volume well beyond the 500,000 vehicle mark per year, which reached just 450 in 2020.
All three sources said Tesla’s search for a studio director in China began around September, and that there was a flurry of activity in December, when several headhunters used LinkedIn and other means to approach candidates.
One of the sources, who is aware of Tesla’s headhunting activities in China, said that once a design director was hired, Tesla would recruit the director’s team, which would likely have around 20 people and include designers and modelers who help transform design renderings on clay models.
All sources said that the planned center aims to be comprehensive design equipment, with one describing it as a “full-function studio”, which would not only help conceptualize the design of a car, but also reach its final shape – three digital dimensional data – from a model.
The data could then be delivered to Tesla’s vehicle engineers, who are mainly in northern California.
Two of the sources said that Tesla’s China studio will likely also conduct research on Chinese consumer tastes, as well as work for cars that will be produced at Tesla’s vehicle assembly plant in Shanghai, where designs are tuned to ensure components to fit specific engineers. specifications.
“They want to give vehicle design a much bigger trend for China; they’ve done a lot here, setting up a big factory and selling a ton of EVs, but it looks like Tesla is ready to take root, ”said one of the sources.
That boost could lead to a more independent Tesla China, added the person, who spent more than a decade in the country working in design centers run by global automakers, among other places.
Chinese consumers bought about 145,000 Tesla vehicles last year, accounting for about a third of the company’s global volumes, LMC said.
$ 25,000 ELECTRIC CAR
Two of the sources said a likely “China-specific” model was a low-cost generator, like a $ 25,000 electric car that Musk mentioned at a Battery Day event in September, which he said Tesla could aim for. bring to the market in about three years.
Musk said Tesla was confident that it would be able to hit the market with “a very attractive $ 25,000 electric vehicle that is also fully autonomous”.
At that price, according to two sources, as well as industry experts, it was likely to be a compact car, smaller than Tesla’s Model 3, that would be as affordable as some conventional gasoline-powered vehicles.
Compact cars are not widely sold in the United States, where larger and taller vehicles, such as Ford’s F-150 pickup and SUVs, as well as midsize sedans, dominate the roads.
They represent about 10% of America’s overall vehicle market. In contrast, compacts represent 25% of sales in China, or about 5 to 6 million cars a year, according to consultancy LMC Automotive.
That is why the $ 25,000 planned car that Musk discussed would be more suitable for the Chinese market, according to the two sources and industry experts.
“A compact Tesla car would do well in China, as well as in the rest of Asia and Europe,” said Yale Zhang, head of Shanghai-based Automotive Foresight consultancy. “This could cause a serious drop in sales for cars like the Toyota Corolla and Volkswagen Golf.”
Reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu; Additional reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit; Editing by Pravin Char