Tesla Hires Former Auto Journalist to Join PR Team in China

Photo: @cyfoxcat via @Ray4Tesla

Tesla has hired a new personnel member to head up public relations in China, drawing from a Chinese publication equivalent to Motor Trend.

Former editor-in-chief of automobile publication DongCheDi, Bai Chaoyang, has joined Tesla China and will be responsible for “media dissemination,” according to @Ray4Tesla.

The news will reportedly strengthen the company’s China public relations team, and comes nearly a year after Tesla famously dispersed its own U.S. public relations team.

The news also comes after a series of criticisms in China cast the company’s reputation in the world’s largest auto market into murky water.

Earlier this year, Tesla was banned for use at certain government buildings and for military and government personnel due to privacy concerns over the use of in-car camera footage.

Following the incident, Tesla CEO Elon Musk went on China State Television and praised the country – ultimately emphasizing how important the Chinese auto market remains for Tesla.

Tesla later responded by establishing a local data storage site, to ensure the public that all data collected would be stored in China.

The company later encountered a protester at Auto Shanghai saying Tesla’s faulty brakes almost killed her family – though Tesla released data from the crash showing that speeding was the cause of the accident.

In July, Tesla sold nearly 33,000 vehicles in China, but a majority of them were exported to Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. CEO Elon Musk clarified on Thursday the company makes cars for export in the first half of quarter and for local market in second half, while also saying they are “operating under extreme supply limitations” due to the global chip shortage.