(Yicai Global) Jan. 18 -- Kingston Chang, Tesla’s first general manager in China, has passed away for unknown reasons.

Chang was replaced by Wu Bixuan, who previously worked for Apple, as the US carmaker's GM in April 2014, Tencent News reported yesterday. Chang established Tesla’s first team in China and set up the country's No. 1 Tesla store in Beijing.

The California-headquartered company has not commented on its pioneering executive's death.

When Wu took up the reins from Chang, analysts said that the electric vehicle manufacturer is moving toward selling "electric fast-moving consumer goods" instead of "toys for the rich," as Chang had previously led Bentley Motors's business development in the mainland for a decade.

In 2020, Tesla sold almost 145,000 units in China while China-made Model 3s made up 94 percent of that. The US firm's global sales reached 499,550 while the Chinese market accounted for almost 30 percent of the total. Tesla also started exporting China-made Model 3s to Europe late last year.

Editor: Emmi Laine