Updates below. This may not be what it seemed.
A former Tesla employee and occasional CleanTechnica contributor, David Havasi, just spotted something and shared it with me. Tesla seems to be developing a rental car program that will first launch in Texas. Here’s the evidence:
Screenshots from David Havasi.
First of all, as highlighted by David, Tesla Staff Program Manager for Business Development Melissa Porche Blakely posted “Big things happening…” on LinkedIn. The post links to a job opening for “Program Manager, Business Development.” That seems innocuous and vague enough, but then … under the “What You’ll Do” section, it indicates “Lead in the launch of the Tesla Rental Program in Texas.”
Update: Here’s more of a list of responsibilities from the job posting:
What You’ll Do
Lead in the launch of the Tesla Rental Program in Texas:
- Support the team on launching a small pilot in all Texas collision sites
- Document and communicate areas of opportunity and process improvements for the greater team
- Work cross-functionally to help automate the process for a much larger launch
- Lead Texas sites through a larger launch to a sustainable state with appropriate resources, training and processes in place.
- Support the launch in any airports for the tesla employee pilot
Glass Repair Optimization:
- Assist in leading the process improvements to reduce repair time for all glass repairs in collision
- Develop best practices and standardize tooling to launch short term improvements
- Support long term vision for all Texas sites to include automation cells
Supporting all new business development projects and launches
- Ready to support any new project that will provide cost saving benefits to the collision team.
- Lead business cases and thorough analysis ahead of any new project
- Launch small pilots to determine feasibility
- Lead past pilots for all Texas sites until each site is up and running with all resources required
That all seems straightforward, and huge. But that’s all the info we have for now. Tesla is going to launch a rental program in Texas*, and almost certainly far beyond, and it’s now hiring a program manager for that. We’ll keep you posted as we learn more. Please let us know if you spot more, too! You can send tips here: cleantechnica.com/contact/
As you can see from the details of the job posting, it may not be what it initially seemed. The only thing that seems relevant to any potential rental car program launch is “Support the launch in any airports for the tesla employee pilot.”
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