Former Tesla "Star Plant Manager" Song Gang Reportedly Set to Join Xiaomi Auto, Teaming Up with Ex-China Head Kong Yanshuang to Boost Production Ramp-Up

According to reports from Blue Whale Tech and Jiemian News, Song Gang, former Vice President of Manufacturing at Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai, is expected to join Xiaomi Auto, potentially taking on the role of plant manager. Song played a leading role in the construction and ramp-up of Tesla’s Shanghai factory and was widely regarded as a “star plant chief.” He left Tesla in December 2024 and briefly joined Envision Energy before this move. Meanwhile, Kong Yanshuang, former General Manager of Tesla China, joined Xiaomi in early March to oversee automotive sales, succeeding Li Xiaorui; the transition is still underway. The back-to-back appointments of these two former Tesla executives come at a critical juncture as Xiaomi Auto pushes toward its ambitious target of delivering 550,000 vehicles by 2026. Although Xiaomi delivered over 20,000 units across all models in March, it still faces a significant gap—requiring an average daily delivery of approximately 1,700 vehicles to meet its goal. Xiaomi is accelerating production expansion, with its Phase III Beijing facility and Wuhan plant gradually coming online, yet building an efficient manufacturing system remains a key challenge. Song’s expertise in supply chain management, production line optimization, and quality control is expected to help Xiaomi improve its production ramp-up efficiency. Xiaomi has not yet commented on these personnel changes.