Tesla expands legal, external relations workforce in China

[August 17, 2021]  BEIJING (Reuters) -Tesla Inc is hiring managers for legal and external relations teams in China, according to a job post on its Wechat account, as the electric-car maker faces public scrutiny in the country over safety and customer service complaints.

U.S.-headquartered Tesla, which is making electric Model 3 sedans and Model Y sport-utility vehicles in Shanghai, is hiring external relation managers in several Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, according to the post.

The job advertisement did not go into details of external relation positions, but separate posts showed the managers will handle government relations as well.

Reuters reported in May, citing people familiar with the matter, that Tesla was boosting its engagement with mainland regulators and beefing up its government relations team.

The company is hiring lawyers who specialise in construction, anti-monopoly and data privacy protection areas, while also looking for public relations managers.

In April, Tesla was targeted by state media and regulators after a customer, angry over the handling of her complaint about malfunctioning brakes, climbed on top of a Tesla car in protest at the Shanghai auto show. Videos of the incident went viral.

Last month, the automaker sold 32,968 China-made vehicles in July, including 24,347 for export, industry data showed.

Yuan Guohua, a official in the area where Tesla's factory is located, said on Tuesday that the factory is expected to product 450,000 vehicles this year, including 66,100 units for export, China's state Xinhua news agency reported.

Yuan also said 90% of Tesla's China supply chain will be localised, according to Xinhua report. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Yuan's comments.

(Reporting by Yilei Sun and Brenda Goh; editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Jason Neely)

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