Xiaomi has hired Dieter Lorenz, Tesla’s Senior Manager of Delivery Operations for Central Europe, as its new Head of Delivery & Logistics Europe. The move signals that Xiaomi is aggressively building an operations infrastructure on the ground in Europe well ahead of its confirmed 2027 market entry.
Lorenz isn’t the only Tesla operations employee making the jump, either. At least one other former Tesla operations staffer in Europe has also landed at Xiaomi, suggesting a deliberate recruitment push targeting Tesla’s European logistics expertise.
Lorenz’s departure adds to what has become a sustained exodus of talent from Tesla across every function. We’ve tracked dozens of senior departures since mid-2024, spanning finance, engineering, manufacturing, sales, and program management. Last week alone, Tesla’s head of customer experience left for Coinbase and a key Cybercab assembly leader also departed.
The European operations side is particularly painful for Tesla. The automaker’s European registrations collapsed throughout 2025, with full-year 2025 registrations dropping 27.8% to just 235,000 units. Losing the people who know how to run delivery operations efficiently across the continent, right when sales are already struggling, compounds the problem.
Meanwhile, Xiaomi is on a roll. The company recently hired Kong Yanshuang, Tesla’s former China General Manager, to lead its automotive sales operations. It delivered over 410,000 EVs in 2025 and is targeting 550,000 in 2026. Its refreshed SU7 sedan generated 15,000 orders in 34 minutes. The company confirmed 2027 as its first year for European sales.
Basically leaving a sinking ship to join a rising star.