Two top talents from Tesla have jumped ship to Xiaomi.
Two key figures from Tesla China have been recruited by Xiaomi.
According to a report by Lanjing News, Song Gang, the former vice president of production and manufacturing at Tesla's Shanghai factory, may take on the role of the factory director of Xiaomi Auto, forming a dual-core management structure with the current factory director, Ji Guowei.
Actually, before this, this core figure who led the construction and capacity ramp-up of Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory was reported to join Xiaomi Auto.
It's not just one core executive from Tesla China who has jumped ship to Xiaomi. There are reports indicating that Kong Yanshuang, the former general manager of Tesla China, joined Xiaomi Auto in early March and will replace Li Xiaorui, the former director of Xiaomi Auto, to be in charge of automobile sales.
However, as of now, Xiaomi has not made any response.
Judging from the current information, one is the "gold medal factory director" on the production side, and the other is the "ace salesperson" on the sales side. With the support of these two powerful figures, you'll probably see a Xiaomi Auto with an increasingly robust sales channel and faster delivery.
"Gold Medal Factory Director"
As the former vice president of production and manufacturing at Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory, Song Gang is not only known as the "gold medal factory director" but also an absolute senior expert in the field of automobile manufacturing.
Before joining Tesla in 2018, he had accumulated 15 years of experience in the automotive industry's supply chain. He worked successively at SAIC-GM, Dürr Group, Ford Motor, and Zhidou Electric Vehicle. Among them, he had a six - year tenure at General Motors, reaching the highest position of the national manufacturing engineering director, and later served as the senior manager of capacity planning in the Asia - Pacific region at Ford Motor.
At Tesla, he was not only the person in charge of the Shanghai factory but also the 001 employee of Tesla's Shanghai factory. It can be said that he single - handedly led the construction and capacity ramp - up of Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory.
At that time, Tesla had just been announced as the first wholly foreign - owned vehicle manufacturing project in China to be located in Shanghai. The factory started construction on January 7, 2019; it obtained the production license in October and began producing the Model 3. It only took 11 months to complete the industry miracle from breaking ground to the offline of the first Model 3.
After that, he pushed the monthly production capacity of the factory to a global record of 80,000 vehicles, becoming a key contributor to Tesla's localized manufacturing in China.
In 2020, Tesla started building the second phase of the Shanghai factory for the domestic production of the Model Y. This team was also led by Song Gang. Before his departure, the Shanghai Gigafactory had become the factory with the highest production line efficiency and best quality globally, and the localization rate of components had increased to over 95%.
In addition to the vehicle manufacturing factory, Song Gang also participated in the construction of Tesla's battery and motor teams and the establishment of the factories.
You know, the director of the Shanghai Gigafactory is the most crucial position in Tesla China after Zhu Xiaotong, the president of Greater China, overseeing the first and second phases of the Shanghai factory, as well as the battery and motor factories.
It can be said that in Tesla China, except for the supply chain which is managed by the US headquarters, all other manufacturing - related departments are managed by the factory director.
In addition, Song Gang also worked at Tesla in the United States, participating in factory construction and business planning for potential facilities. Then he returned to Shanghai to establish Tesla's energy storage (Megapack) Gigafactory, which is also Tesla's first energy storage Gigafactory outside the United States.
It's not hard to see Song Gang's strong business ability. In fact, at the end of last year, there were rumors in the market that Song Gang would join Xiaomi. At that time, it was said that after leaving Tesla, Song Gang planned to join a local emerging automobile brand currently facing capacity bottlenecks.
Many people thought it was Xiaomi Auto. After all, at that time, Xiaomi Auto's delivery schedule of the SU7 was seriously affected by capacity issues. However, Wang Hua, the general manager of Xiaomi's public relations department, publicly responded, "The so - called Director Song is indeed excellent, but our Director Ji at the Xiaomi Auto factory is also very outstanding. That's enough!"
This statement was generally interpreted by the outside world as an indirect denial. Soon after, there were reports indicating that Song Gang's new destination was decided. He would serve as the senior vice president of the integrated supply chain at Envision Group, which put an end to the matter.
Now, the rumor that Song Gang will join Xiaomi Auto has resurfaced, and the details are more specific. A person familiar with the matter revealed, "He may serve as the factory director, forming a partnership with Director Ji. The factory director is actually a very crucial position that requires a lot of experience. The Xiaomi Auto factory has a large number of employees, and the management responsibility is heavy."
"Ace Salesperson"
Another executive who has switched from Tesla to Xiaomi also has quite an impressive background.
She is Kong Yanshuang, the former general manager of Tesla China. Just from her title, it's clear that she held a core position within Tesla's China system.
There is relatively little public information about Kong Yanshuang, but her career is deeply intertwined with Tesla's development in the Chinese market. Since Tesla uses a direct - sales model in China, it means that every aspect of the sales system - from store location selection, staff training, test - drive procedures, delivery experience, to the standardization of after - sales service - must be directly output and strictly implemented by the headquarters.
Kong Yanshuang is the "chief architect" of this system.
She has held key positions such as the general manager of Tesla's South China region and the general manager of the China region. She has long led the layout of Tesla's sales system in the Chinese market, achieving the "from 0 to 1" and "from 1 to N" of Tesla's sales system in China and experiencing the complete expansion cycle of Tesla in China.
If her core abilities can be summarized in three keywords, they are systemization, refinement, and penetration.
During her tenure as the general manager of the South China region, she built the direct - sales network in first - tier cities such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen and extended the layout to third - and fourth - tier cities, completing the earliest service network structure of Tesla in China.
From 2022 to 2023, she was interviewed by the media several times as the general manager of the China region to introduce Tesla China's performance and strategy. In May 2024, with the adjustment of Tesla's management, she was transferred to the Shanghai region to continue her work in sales management.
It's worth noting that according to a report by Jiemian News, at the same time as Kong Yanshuang joined Xiaomi, another mid - level employee from Tesla also joined. This employee, named "Eason", serves as the "political commissar" of Xiaomi's Auto Department and is a member of Xiaomi's General Staff. The General Staff of Xiaomi Group is a core department that assists the CEO in formulating and supervising the group's development strategy and is directly under the leadership of CEO Lei Jun.
Standing on Tesla's Shoulders
The successive recruitment of two powerful figures from Tesla is closely related to the current situation of Xiaomi Auto.
Yesterday, Xiaomi Auto released its delivery data for March. The total delivery volume of Xiaomi Auto exceeded 20,000 units. The new - generation SU7 had a cumulative delivery of over 7,000 units in 9 days, with an average daily delivery of nearly 800 units.
This figure is still eye - catching among new - energy vehicle startups. However, compared with the monthly record of 50,000 units set in December 2025 and Xiaomi Auto's goal of delivering 550,000 units in 2026, there is still a long way to go.
In the just - ended first quarter, Xiaomi Auto had a cumulative delivery of over 79,000 units. To achieve the annual goal, in the remaining 9 months, the average monthly delivery volume needs to reach about 52,000 units.
This figure is more than twice the current monthly delivery level and also exceeds the monthly record of 50,000 units set in December 2025. Achieving the annual goal is a huge challenge.
Capacity limitation has been a long - standing problem for Xiaomi. Currently, the first and second phases of Xiaomi's Beijing factories are operating at full capacity, with an annual production capacity of about 300,000 to 330,000 units, which is still not enough to meet the annual delivery target.
The third phase of the Beijing factory was put into operation after the Spring Festival, with a designed annual production capacity of 150,000 units; the Wuhan factory is also planned to be put into operation in May 2026, with a designed annual production capacity of 150,000 units. Together, they just exceed the annual target of 550,000 units.
With the limit capacity so close to the target, it means that extremely high requirements are placed on production efficiency and supply - chain management. Song Gang's joining comes at just the right time.
As we all know, one of the reasons why Tesla's Gigafactory is highly regarded is its production efficiency. The production capacity of an automobile factory is often affected by multiple factors.
These include the degree of production - line automation, factory scale, reserve of industrial workers, and material - preparation progress, etc.
How to build an efficient production and manufacturing system. This is exactly Song Gang's forte - the experience he accumulated at Tesla's Shanghai factory is not only about capacity ramp - up but also an efficient manufacturing methodology that runs through supply - chain management, production - line optimization, and quality control. This is also the main reason why the outside world speculates that Xiaomi will recruit Director Song.
On the other hand, how to convert production capacity into actual delivery volume. It's obvious that compared with the popularity of the first - generation Xiaomi SU7 when it was launched, the popularity of the upgraded Xiaomi SU7 has declined a lot, which can be seen from the order volume.
As Xiaomi Auto transitions from a "burst - style rhythm" to a "normalized steady - sales" stage, there is an urgent need to systematically improve Xiaomi Auto's retail capabilities. Kong Yanshuang's arrival seems to have a purpose: based on her channel - system capabilities, to build a sales system to handle the "steady - sales period".
Tesla has experienced a long period of being a best - seller in China and also a complete normal period of order decline. How to maintain the combat effectiveness of the sales team after the popularity fades is a path that Kong Yanshuang has already walked through at Tesla.
Kong Yanshuang's joining can directly introduce the systematic and institutionalized sales - management methods from her Tesla experience into Xiaomi to stabilize and enhance the long - term sales combat effectiveness.
Now that the industry has entered the stage of stock competition, the arrival of these two powerful figures, Song and Kong, is the fastest way for Xiaomi to make up for its shortcomings. In the future, Xiaomi Auto is likely to start a stable and rapid development.
This article is from the WeChat official account "SuperEV - Lab" (ID: SuperEV - Lab), written by Wang Lei and published by 36Kr with authorization.