Tesla Loses Roadster Chief Engineer Alan Clark To Ford

Ford seems to be on a hiring spree. Only recently it managed to lure Doug Field away from Apple to be their head of advanced technologies and now the Detroit based carmaker has lured another bigwig. This time around its Alan Clark, the chief engineer for the Roadster which Tesla is hoping to launch in 2023. Alan Clark had at Tesla for a long time as he started out as senior design engineer in 2009 where he worked on the Model S and its fascinating door handles. 

If one goes to Clark's LinkedIn, then he has achieved quite a bit at Tesla. He was in charge of advanced engineering and integration for the Model X, he helped with the mechanical design of the Model S battery enclosure, he even was the head of advanced design for the front and rear suspension of the Model S. 

Clark was an important engineer who had a hand in almost all of Tesla's products 

More recently, he was director for program engineering, a role he was in for the last four years at Tesla. He was the chief engineer for the Roadster prototype and even lead the development of vehicle architecture for the Model 3 and Model Y. He also helped with the engineering of the Cybertruck protototpe as he was named as one of the inventors of the retractable solar bed cover the electric pick up will come with. 

Now he joins Doug Field at Ford in his advanced EV development group. Field and Clark have previously worked together at Tesla before he joined Apple for the development of the Apple Car. 

This will be a big loss for Tesla as Clark had a hand in the development of almost everything meaningful at the company. Previously, we have seen when it lost Pete Rawlinson, he went on to become the CEO and chief technology officer for Lucid Motors which is now challenging Tesla's supremacy in luxury electric cars. Reviews have indicated the new Lucid Air Dream Edition is on many levels superior to the Tesla Model S Plaid.