The head of Tesla's Shanghai gigafactory has reportedly left the company and plans to join an emerging auto brand in China that faces production bottlenecks.

Song Gang, who was also Tesla's vice president of manufacturing, submitted his resignation several months ago, and his last working day at the firm was yesterday, LatePost Auto reported on the same day, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Tesla has not appointed a new Shanghai factory manager yet, with Fei Wenjin, senior director of vehicle and parts quality of the plant, and Logistic Director Sun Haolin among the most likely candidates, according to the report.

Rumors began circulating that Song might join Xiaomi Auto as head of its plant, but Wang Hua, general manager of the Chinese electronics giant's public relations department, denied the information on social media today.

Song worked at Ford Motor and SAIC-GM, a joint venture between China's SAIC Group and US auto giant General Motors, before joining Tesla in 2018. The Shanghai gigafactory, Tesla's first overseas plant, began construction in 2019.

Song was the first employee of the gigafactory, leading the team to realize local production of the Model 3 within a year and taking charge of building the plant's second phase for manufacturing the Model Y, achieving a localization rate of more than 95 percent for components.

Tesla's Shanghai gigafactory has an annual production capacity of 950,000 units, and apart from the Chinese market, it also supplies some countries in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe. In addition, it is being prepared to start producing a refreshed Model Y and a six-seat variant of the Model Y.