Electric sports-car maker Tesla’s latest addition to its workforce is Deepak Ahuja, who has spent 15 years at Ford and will become Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer. Just yesterday, Tesla hired Mazda designer Franz von Holzhausen.
Ahuja acted as the Small Cars Controller at Ford, which focused on bringing fuel efficient cars to the automaker’s U.S. range of offerings. Ahuja recently moved from Michigan to California with this wife and two daughters in order to accommodate his new job at Tesla’s San Carlos headquarters.
“The addition of another seasoned auto industry executive to the senior management team at Tesla demonstrates that Tesla is focused on combining the best of what Detroit and Silicon Valley has to offer in building the next great American automobile company,” said Tesla CEO Ze’ev Drori.
Tesla does not have a great track record with its previous white-collar employees, as it is facing a class-action lawsuit.
08/05, 9:50 AM
posted by:
beatusmongous
Oh, now I’m worried…
08/05, 9:51 AM
posted by:
elviososa
good luck Telsa….if he is that good, Ford will not get into the messes they have today!
08/05, 9:52 AM
posted by:
xyunya
“Ahuja acted as the Small Cars Controller at Ford” – he is an excellent actor; what small cars Ford has? 12 y.o. Focus? That the bulk of his career.
08/05, 10:08 AM
posted by:
sti parts
Wow, a Mazda designer and now a Ford CFO? With Tesla still being an up-and-coming force in the industry, I’m sure that they could have done a lot worse than this former Ford CFO. Good for them, I hope they make good on their plans.
08/05, 12:39 PM
posted by:
Ed
HemiRoadRunner, your comment was deleted because of its inappropriate nature. Please refrain from making similar such comments in the future.
-Ed.
08/05, 12:44 PM
posted by:
crackerhemi
Uhh, they are taking a CFO from a bankrupt company? How smart is that?
08/05, 2:03 PM
posted by:
jayjc08
Whoa, LLN’s got it’s own moderator now?!
I think LLN’s the one getting into some serious management
It’s great to see Tesla get some (more) serious force behind them, I would love to see some quirky, more original designs. I’m sure we will see more of those from now on however, with Holzhausen. I just hope Tesla doesn’t make any relationships in the future with ANY current auto manufacturer, just keep it as a relatively new venture.