Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Financial Officer Deepak Ahuja plans to
retire later this year when the electric-car maker appoints his
replacement, a move disclosed on Tuesday at the company's annual
shareholder meeting.
Mr. Ahuja, 52, who joined the company in 2008, said the decision
was "akin to letting go of a child," but that he had "other things
on my bucket list to check off."
One of Tesla's longest serving executives, Mr. Ahuja played an
important role in the company's rise from startup to highly-valued
electric car maker. He was its first finance chief and helped guide
it through its initial public offering in addition handling its
post-IPO financing.
"He's done an amazing job," Elon Musk, chief executive and a
co-founder of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company, said at the end
of the company's shareholder meeting.
Mr. Musk also told shareholders that an autopilot feature
developed for newer versions of its Model S car and which will
allow for predominantly autonomous highway driving should be
available to some "early access" customers later this month. He
described the limited availability as a "beta" test.
"I am testing the latest version every week. We are making
gradual progress towards [supplying a] releaseable bit of
software," Mr. Musk said.
Mr. Musk also said that in response to some criticism on the
capabilities of the company's Powerwall home battery systems
announced in late April, Tesla has increased the power output
capabilities on the storage packs to a steady state output of 5
kilowatts from 2 kilowatts and to a peak output of 7 kilowatts.
There were two shareholder questions at the meeting, both asking
Tesla to stop using leather and other animal products in its
manufacture of its vehicles. Tesla directors recommended against
approving that measure.
Tesla shares were off fractionally in late trading after falling
29 cents to $256 in 4 p.m. Nasdaq trading.
Write to Mike Ramsey at michael.ramsey@wsj.com
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