The Tesla posting showed that Zhu retained his responsibilities as Tesla's most senior executive for China and sales in the rest of Asia of Tuesday.

The move makes Zhu the highest-profile executive at Tesla after Elon Musk, with oversight for deliveries in all of its major markets and all of its production outside the still-ramping Tesla plant in Germany.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

(Reporting by Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; writing by Kevin Krolicki; Editing by Stephen Coates)