California’s Tesla Motors has announced that it has hired Mike Donoughe, a former Chrysler employee, to head the company’s manufacturing, supply chain and operations. Donoughe was a 26-year veteran of Chrysler and also worked for Mercedes-Benz .
Donoughe’s name might look familiar as the 49-year old recently resigned from leading Chrysler’s Project D, a program that is working to develop Chrysler’s next mid-size sedan.
The hiring of Donoughe shows that Tesla is really moving forward with its passenger car plans as Donoughe is well versed in manufacturing small cars in large volumes. Tesla currently produced the all-electric Roadster, but also plans to launch a hybrid sedan by 2010. A new all-electric model – with a sub-$30,000 price tag – is said to be in the works for 2012, according to Automotive News.
