Tesla’s New CFO Is Known as VT. The Rest Is a Mystery.

The new Tesla CFO is known internally as VT. And that’s just about all many people know about him.

Until this week, Vaibhav Taneja, who was named finance chief Aug. 4, didn’t have a bio page on the company’s website. Few had heard of him outside of Tesla. And even internally, he has kept a relatively low profile, working mostly behind the scenes in senior accounting and finance roles since joining Chief Executive Elon Musk’s business empire in 2016.  

Now, the 45-year-old executive is stepping into one of the most prominent roles at the electric-car maker, a position that will thrust him to the forefront of a company that is trying to maintain its breakneck growth.

He also inherits a difficult task: The company aims to cut manufacturing costs by 50% for its next generation of EVs, while also spending heavily to expand its vehicle production. 

Musk has set a goal of becoming the world’s biggest automaker by sales within the decade and has historically leaned on his CFOs to play a key role in translating his wild ambitions into reality.

Taneja’s appointment was disclosed Monday, after Zach Kirkhorn, Tesla’s CFO of four years and a top lieutenant to Musk, stepped down.

In his new role, Taneja (pronounced “tah-NAY-ja”) will remain Tesla’s chief accountant, a job he’s held since 2019. He doesn’t appear to have inherited the title of “Master of Coin,” a term Tesla bestowed on his predecessor a couple of years ago.

Tesla and Taneja didn’t respond to requests for comment.

People who have worked with Taneja describe him as easygoing, pragmatic and comfortable staying out of the limelight. His past work in accounting and compliance by its nature wasn’t particularly prominent or outward-facing, which helps explain why his name isn’t well known. 

“He came in low-ego, high-intelligence, high-EQ, high-capacity,” said Seth Weissman, former general counsel at SolarCity, another Musk business where Taneja previously worked. “He’s the kind of person who had his principles right, which was company first…the team I lead second, and then me third.”

Another former colleague described Taneja as a “shadow guy,” pointing to his work implementing various internal checks and balances at Tesla after becoming chief accountant.

Taneja graduated from Delhi University in India with a bachelor’s degree in commerce. He later joined PricewaterhouseCoopers, Tesla’s longtime auditor, and spent nearly 17 years there in managerial roles, according to his LinkedIn bio. 

Taneja joined SolarCity in 2016 as vice president of accounting operations, according to his LinkedIn profile, and when Tesla acquired the solar company shortly after, he helped integrate it into the electric-car company.

Taneja is based out of the company’s headquarters in the Austin, Texas, area, where county records show he bought a residence in 2021. He has an account at his boss’s X, the social-media company formerly known as Twitter, but doesn’t appear to be very active. He follows four other users and mostly reposts company messages.

His earliest visible post was a quotation ascribed to Mother Teresa: “Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”

Taneja, whose compensation as CFO hasn’t been disclosed, holds Tesla stock worth roughly $26 million at recent prices, according to Equilar.

At Tesla, it isn’t uncommon for top executives to operate in relative obscurity. Only four Tesla executives have bio pages on the company’s website.  

Several analysts and portfolio managers who cover the company say they’ve never spoken one-on-one with either Kirkhorn or Taneja.

Still, in elevating Taneja, Musk is following a familiar playbook. The billionaire has preferred promoting from within, turning to homegrown talent within his empire of businesses and tapping people he trusts.

When Tesla appointed Kirkhorn finance chief in 2019, the former McKinsey analyst was so unfamiliar to outsiders that some on the earnings call had never heard of him. 

Over time, Kirkhorn became a fixture on analysts’ calls, and in March took center stage at a Tesla investor event. 

The 38-year-old executive helped transform the electric-car pioneer into the world’s most valuable automaker and put it on a path of consistent profitability. He also handled many day-to-day responsibilities, serving a function akin to a chief operating officer at other companies.

Kirkhorn, in a LinkedIn post Monday, thanked Musk for his leadership and optimism. “Being a part of this company is a special experience and I’m extremely proud of the work we’ve done together since I joined over 13 years ago,” Kirkhorn said. He hasn’t said publicly what he plans to do next.

By tapping the company’s top accountant, Tesla could be signaling a strategic shift in the finance department, which under Kirkhorn was deeply involved in operational decisions.  

Taneja’s most pressing task will be keeping Tesla’s costs in check as it embarks on a rapid expansion of its global operations.

Tesla recently opened new factories in the U.S. and Europe with plans to add more facilities in the coming years. The company aims to increase sales to 20 million vehicles a year by the end of this decade, a figure that’s larger than the global sales of Volkswagen and Toyota combined last year. Tesla sold around 1.3 million vehicles in 2022.

At the same time, Tesla is facing stiffening competition from more traditional car companies in the EV market, and this year, it slashed prices across its lineup, denting profit margins.

Investors will be watching closely how the new CFO navigates these opposing pressures.

“There is a balance here in terms of: How do you grow, but how do you do it in a responsible way?” said Barclays analyst Dan Levy.

The first test could come before the year’s end with the planned rollout of the Cybertruck, Tesla’s long-awaited electric pickup that was originally due out in 2021.

The model, which will be the company’s first new passenger vehicle in years, has been delayed by challenges including cost overruns and design changes. Investors are counting on the Cybertruck to help re-energize the brand.

Weissman, the former SolarCity colleague, said that even early on, Taneja had shown a propensity to think big. 

“I remember him coming in and thinking: let’s scale things. Let’s uplevel things,” Weissman said. “He was looking around the corner, and he was looking to the future.”

Write to Rebecca Elliott at [email protected]