Basic Motors Government Vice President World Manufacturing and Labor Relations Gerald Johnson (center) watches as engineers and technicians set-up and check the machines that can be used to fabricate Stage 1 face masks at a plant in Warren, Michigan.
Photograph by John F. Martin for Basic Motors
DETROIT – General Motors’ long-time head of producing is retiring, and the corporate has employed a former Tesla and Google government to fill his footwear.
The Detroit automaker said on Tuesday that Gerald Johnson, government vice chairman of World Manufacturing and Sustainability, will move the baton to Jens Peter “JP” Clausen, a former government with Tesla, Lego and, most not too long ago, Google.
Johnson’s departure is not sudden after a 44-year tenure with the automaker, nonetheless GM additionally introduced one other extra shocking departure on Tuesday: that of Mike Abbott, government vice chairman of software program and companies.
GM stated Abbott, a former Apple government who began with the automaker in Might, can be stepping down because of well being causes.
Baris Cetinok, present vice chairman of product in software program and companies, has been named Abbott’s interim substitute whereas a search is carried out. Cetinok, additionally a former Apple executive, began with GM in September.
The modifications are efficient April 2, however GM stated Johnson will stay with automaker by means of the remainder of the yr.
The hiring of Clausen is especially notable, as GM and different automakers try and match or surpass Tesla in manufacturing batteries and powertrains for electrical autos.
Clausen spent practically 14 years at toymaker Lego, then joined Tesla throughout a interval of intensive progress and tumult on the firm, from 2015 to 2019.
Reporting to CEO Elon Musk and former CTO JB Straubel, Clausen served as vice chairman of Tesla’s first battery manufacturing plant, often known as the Nevada Gigafactory, outdoors of Reno.
Clausen led a fast growth of that manufacturing unit and earlier than he left had been tasked with discovering methods for Tesla to scale back the quantity of scrap and waste it was producing whereas the EV maker was rising from a distinct segment participant to a mass-market autos enterprise.
When Clausen joined Tesla, the now U.S. EV chief was producing its higher-end sedan, the Mannequin S, and its falcon-wing Mannequin X SUV. By the point he left, the corporate had begun mass manufacturing and delivering its entry-level Mannequin 3 sedan, which stays its most accessible electrical automotive.
After his tenure at Tesla, Clausen labored at Zymergen, an artificial biology firm funded by Softbank and later acquired by a giant competitor, Gingko Bioworks. After the merger, Clausen moved on to a job at Google as a vice chairman of engineering for the corporate’s Knowledge Heart Superior Know-how Innovation group, the place he labored on environmentally accountable cooling options for information facilities, amongst different sustainable progress initiatives.
Clausen’s final day with Google can be March 29, a spokesperson for the corporate stated in an e-mail.
Clausen is just not the one ex-Tesla government to hitch GM. The corporate’s board members embrace former Tesla President of World Gross sales and Service Jon McNeill.
