If Tesla has learned anything from the development of the Roadster over the past five years, it's that building a production car that meets present day regulations is a lot harder than anyone in Silicon Valley guessed. The process is filled with all kinds of potholes and having some people on the team with experience navigating those craters can be a big help. During AutoblogGreen's recent conversation with Tesla Chairman Elon Musk, he revealed that the company would have several experienced auto industry people coming aboard soon. The first of those new recruits has now been revealed as Mike Donoughe, Tesla's new Executive Vice President for vehicle development and manufacturing. Donoughe is a 24-year veteran of Chrysler who resigned from his VP post there three months ago, and was instrumental in the effort to redesign Chrysler's mid-sized cars. At Tesla he will be responsible for vehicle engineering for the Roadster and Model S except for the drivetrain. Initially, Donoughe will focus on getting the Model S' engineering and manufacturing sorted out. The Tesla press release is after the jump.
[Source: Tesla Motors, via AutoblogGreen]
PRESS RELEASE
Mike Donoughe, Industry Veteran, Joins Tesla Motors as EVP Vehicle Engineering and Manufacturing
SAN CARLOS, CA – Mike Donoughe, a veteran auto industry executive, has joined Tesla Motors as Executive Vice President, Vehicle Engineering and Manufacturing. In this role, Mike will be responsible for manufacturing, supply chain, quality and operations for the company. In addition, Mike will oversee both the Roadster Program and the 'Model S' program, a 4 door, 5 passenger electric sports sedan.
Donoughe, 49, was previously Vice President of 'Project D' at Chrysler, where he led the redesign of their global mid-size vehicle portfolio. Mike spent 24 years at Chrysler, where he led various product creation efforts, including the Stow N Go minivans, Jeep Wrangler and Dodge Ram programs. Mike also spent 3 years with Mercedes Benz in Stuttgart as Director of passenger car development, M and R Class, and is recognized as one of the top engineers in the auto industry.
"Mike is a very valuable addition to our leadership team. His track record, expertise and leadership will help Tesla as we prepare for significant growth." said Tesla CEO Ze'ev Drori. "Mike's immediate priorities are to ensure that production of the Tesla Roadster runs smoothly and efficiently and to drive the continued development of our next car, the 'Model S' a 4 door, 5 passenger sports sedan."
"I joined the Tesla team because I am enthusiastic about Tesla's objective to integrate their disruptive EV technology into mainstream automobiles," said Mike Donoughe, "Tesla is creating vehicles that appeal to customers looking for environmentally sound & energy efficient solutions without compromising on functionality and performance. I look forward to contributing to these efforts as a part of the Tesla team."
Mike has been married for over 26 years to Shelley and has 3 grown children - David (24), Kaitlin (22), and Kelly (21). Mike will be based at Tesla's headquarters in San Carlos, CA.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
geo.stewart @ Jul 9th 2008 9:41AM
instrumental in the effort to redesign Chrysler's mid-sized cars
the best that can be said is he was instrumental in getting out the crap that is the avenger and sebring.
Good LUCK, Tesla!
I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and say he was hamstrung by the financial environment but I cant imagine a startup is going to be in much better shape.
Sam Abuelsamid @ Jul 9th 2008 9:47AM
Actually Donoughe is not responsible for the existing Avenger, Sebring. He was working on other projects when those were done. He was tasked with the emergency re-design but left two months into that assignment.
larry @ Jul 9th 2008 10:33AM
ho ho, I thought the same thing...Avenger sebrain with the crap strakes on the side.
Now the pestilence is spread to the Ford Flex.
The sides of the flex are loaded with Strakes.
Like trac lights,strakes are for designers that don't know what to do next.
azzo45 @ Jul 9th 2008 12:14PM
Yeah & PT Cruiser designer Bryan Nesbitt was hired away by GM but didn't work on the PT clone, the HHR...
... the Corvette C6 designer puts that car on his resume but sure as h*ll drops the Pontiac Aztek off. (yes same guy is credited with these GM vehicles).
Mid size cars are the current,craptastic Avenger & Sebring. Did this guy work on the previous Stratus & Cirrus midsize cars. Much better looking, but crap brakes, bad auto-stick trans, & a package so bad that there could be no SRT 6 model.
There is obviously some ex Chrysler people already at Tesla, so this guys blunders get brushed under the rug.
geo.stewart @ Jul 9th 2008 10:43AM
I will stand corrected, until we see the update.
thanks for the clarification
Andrew @ Jul 9th 2008 9:48AM
That's a relief. I was just about to dump on the Sebring and Avenger too.
Avinash machado @ Jul 9th 2008 9:54AM
At the way Chrysler is going, soon there might be a lot of ex-Chrysler employees looking for a new job.
mk @ Jul 9th 2008 10:11AM
Why is it that the thought of a new fledgeling company trying to bring a new product to market occurs to me that the last thing they need is an executive from the automotive industry.
Most of the decision making in the automotive industry is painfully behind the curve.
Why don't they hire someone from outside the automotive industry, from the tech feild, or something, who knows about breaking into a market with something new, rather than micromanaging and strangling things with old methodology and thinking?
If I were starting a car company, the LAST person I would want is an ex-executive from a big car company, telling me what everyone else has always been doing, and how things can't be done this way or that.
Innovation comes with a little bit of distance.
Just as an anecdotal example, take Apple Computer. They make nice machines, and a great operating system. But where did they really shatter the industry?
Music players, and now cellular phones. Apple was not a music producing or a consumer electronics company like Sony is, on both fronts. They were a tiny little PC company with a "non-compatible" computer product.
Apple is not a cellular phone company like Nokia, others.
Yet the iPod, then the iTunes Music Store, and now the iPhone have revolutionized the markets they work in.
Because Apple approached the projects as an outsider asking what could be possible, rather than approaching the problem as an insider, following the same old trends that continue to propogate themselves. That is why they have had so much trouble from RIAA, and others, because they have shattered the old paradigm, and aren't doing the same old business as usual.
A new car company trying to make a new car should be looking in as an outsider, and as RFK is credited with saying: "Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not."
Steve Jobs has also referred to Henry Ford's old saying...
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said 'faster horses'.”
It isn't the customers anymore who might ask for faster horses, it is the automotive insiders and decision makers that can't break away from simply building "faster horses" rather than a truly new innovation.
New innovation is going to come from outsiders in other fields, not insiders doing the same things, hoping for different outcomes. (the definition of insanity, btw.)
Disgruntled Goat @ Jul 9th 2008 10:27AM
"Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not."
Originally a George Bernard Shaw quote but whatever. It's kinda lame anyway. One of the biggest problems with society today is there are too few people asking why.
rs @ Jul 9th 2008 11:02AM
"If I were starting a car company, the LAST person I would want is an ex-executive from a big car company, telling me what everyone else has always been doing, and how things can't be done this way or that."
Hey MK how old are you first of all? Secondly, have you ever had a position in the auto industry or any other for that matter? Inferring that anyone from a large car company has nothing to offer but bad business habits shows your lack of understanding of the auto industry.
There's a hugh difference between the auto and tech industry: tech doesn't have the long leadtimes, extensive gov't regulation, complicated domestic supply chain management, and dealer issues to name a few. Hey if it were as easy as you say to hve tech people from outside big auto make a quality car, then why has Tesla not delivered any Roadsters after commiting to lauch it 10 months ago?
mk @ Jul 9th 2008 12:25PM
RS,
You prove my point. All entrenched thinking, and some ad-hominem character assault for good measure. Congratulations. What the hell does my age or occupation have to do with ANYTHING? Either my observations and points have merit, or they don't. You have NOT shown that they don't.
Perhaps this particular Ex-VP is not a bad guy, and does his job well. Most people do. But in ANY industry you can name, the insiders have a much harder time breaking the mold that they are in, and truly innovating, and causing new bursts of competition, than outsiders that enter the industry. It is a demonstrable trend.
I am not saying that the things you mentioned should be ignored, but people with outside perspectives can LEARN to meet regulations, they aren't incompetent. A creative person or people make creative ideas FIT regulations.
I am also VERY MUCH for a lot of de-regulation. Politicians are FAR WORSE than entrenched auto execs. For just this sort of reason. Regulations restrict adaptability, and politicians have no idea what they are regulating, most of the time. That is why the free market is supposed to be free.,
Take a look at the state of the auto industry, not just domestic, but the whole thing, and tell me that, overall, they are ahead of the curve, and not being pummeled by a changing market? You don't have to be an executive or an engineer to watch the industry make mistake after mistake, and even when they don't make mistakes, they have a REAL hard time adapting to a changing market.
Perhaps Auto industry lead times are TOO long? Why is the Auto industry the LAST industry to adopt modern, flexible manufacturing techniques? It might be challenging, but it should be possible, and likely profitable, to be able to change production when the market changes. Like changing full size truck production over to compact car production in less than YEARS.
We're already tired of the Camaro, and job one is still about 6 months away. Volt keeps getting revised, usually downward, and possibly further into the future. Ford can't build a truly compelling car to save the company, and Chrysler is in all sorts of trouble. Honda's design language is getting worse, and their product mix isn't exactly expanding, and Toyota is re-evaluating it's business practices, after significant downturn recently. Some of that re-evaluation is important, but what if people were more pro-active and anticipated the market, rather than reacting to it, only after losing lots of money?
Electronics is a much newer, much higher knowledge base industry than the current automotive industry, yet the they are more flexible, and more innovative, and more competitive. I am not saying that the automotive industry can do exactly the same thing, but they need to do much better than they are doing, as other industries are able to.
Electronics and computers have a huge supply chain. But it is more adaptable and quicker to respond. Perhaps due to less regulation (thankfully), and also perhaps due to less labor issues with unions causing suppliers, and service providers to fail whenever they throw a hissy fit.
A small company like Tesla, should be more lithe and flexible, anyway.
@Disgruntled Goat,
Thanks for that clarification, I thought it was someone else's but I couldn't immediately remember, other than RFK using it. I'll remember that next time.
I agree with you that too few people ask why, and that is an issue. But even the knowledgeable people who do ask, or even know why, also tend to be less likely to ask "why not something new?"
I am analytical, and I do ask why, and find out why... I wish I were more creative, and could come up with the next big thing, and say, hey, why not?!!!
I know I am not that creative, but there are people who ARE that creative. And usually people less bound by status quo and tradition, are outsiders looking in, rather than insiders looking out.
And new paradigm-shift ideas are the ones that really propel innovation, and generate new competition from the analysts who re-interpret creativity into competition.
How many various digital music players are there? How many online music and movie services are there?, How many new touch-screen phones have come out in the last year, or are slated to, soon?
LOTS. Because an innovator pushed the envelope and changed the game from the outside, now everyone is moving forward, even the insiders. Even if you don't like Apple, or their products, chances are you like a product that has come about to compete with those Apple products, that perhaps would have developed differently, or not at all, without such innovation.
The auto industry NEEDS that, within the realm of technical reality.
azzo45 @ Jul 9th 2008 12:20PM
Ask a designer or artist type what they run their Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop...) on... a Mac or a PC
Adobe says it works on both... but those programs run BETTER on Apples OS.
Agree with you 100% about Apple taking their ground breaking thinking to the i-Pod & i-phones as well... but the Computer's advantage over a PC when it comes to the Design & Animation world can't be overlooked.
mk @ Jul 9th 2008 12:37PM
Azzo,
I support hundreds of Macs and PCs at a design school... So yeah. I know a bit about that.
I completely agree with your points, and I am a mac user by choice, and have been for many many years, long before Steve Jobs' return to Apple.
But my point was that Apple was a 5% marketshare computer company in the computer industry, and not even a wintel clone maker, that chose to hit the music and cellular phone industries, and hit them HARD with revolutionary ideas, rather than evolutionary ones.
Arguably, Apple has more drastically and quickly affected the music industry, than it has affected the computer industry over time.
Music and consumer electronics companies, and cell phone companies probably would not have come up with those innovations without external input, because they do, and have done business a certain way for a while, and, in essence, just build "faster horses" as Henry Ford would say.
When ford started, he wasn't a giant company, and he didn't operate like the carriage makers. He didn't invent the horseless carriage, there were lots of little examples that were unique little novelty products.
The model T changed that game, and REPLACED a lot of horse drawn cargo, and even took a bite out of local freight train service, after becoming established... Now there is more over-the-road freight than rail freight, and very nearly every household, regardless of income has at least one car, unless living in a dense urban area, where it isn't tenable to keep one.
The auto industry needs a GAME CHANGER, and insider execs are the least likely source for that. Outsiders with new ideas are the most likely.
User @ Jul 9th 2008 2:13PM
Listen, your Mac vs. PC analogy wasn't necessarily correct.
However, I agree with you elsewhere. The Big 3 has done an awful job and it is a mistake to hire away from them. The Achilles heel of the Big 3 has been the management.
User @ Jul 9th 2008 2:23PM
I've also noticed another great key phrase you mentioned: game changer. You are absolutely correct. Tesla should represent innovation. And following that part of your analogy, you are also correct. Tesla should start by taking up a small market share and then innovating in order to rapidly grow their company. By providing new, state of the art products, Tesla can change the entire "game" of the domestic auto industry.
RS, for too long the domestic auto companies have been using your excuses as their excuses for poor performance. Not only is your argument full of fallacies, you also attacked MK inappropriately. You have no known qualifications for making your argument and yet you tell MK that he has "a lack of understanding of the auto industry."
Innovation doesn't come easy. But innovation doesn't come from someone who has previously ran a complete failure of a company.
tanooki2003 @ Jul 9th 2008 10:16AM
This has to be the possible career move yet for him.
Ovidiu Miron @ Jul 9th 2008 11:06AM
I think that Tesla learned a lot.
The people on the team with experience can make the difference.
User @ Jul 9th 2008 2:08PM
Uhm... Would you hire a businessman from one of the Big 3 to head your brand new domestic company?
I would NOT. From the business side, the Big 3 has done a HORRENDOUS job.
Curt @ Jul 9th 2008 11:13PM
They should have tried to hire someone from Honda or Toyota or maybe even one of the German car companies. Honda and Toyota have factories that are far, far more flexible than any Detroit 3 factory.
I also doubt anyone from the upper ranks of the old Detroit 3 will fit into a small company where you'll literally need to get your hands dirty on a daily basis.
By the way, just how hard can it be to procure components and set up a simple assembly line considering that Tesla is a small volume outfit ?
Scan the required components. Send out requests for bids to several of the top auto component suppliers or to smaller upstarts who are hungry for business. Get pricing, component production and shipping schedules. Find a second source for all components., etc., etc., etc.....
If these components aren't too exotic or too complicated to make, sourcing them from local Silicon Valley companies might be a simpler solution rather than extending the supply chain all the way out to Detroit or farther.