Tesla Motors has hired one of Detroit's sharpest engineers to spearhead development of the four-door electric sedan it says will be rolling off an assembly line by the end of 2010.

The Northern California-based automotive upstart has found in Mike Donoughe a seasoned hand who knows how to build cars, and by naming him VP of manufacturing and engineering, shows that it wants to dominate the emerging premium-EV market. Donoughe, 49, has spent the past 24 years at Chrysler, where among other things he led the top-secret "Project D" charged with creating a car that might save the troubled company. Analysts said his depth of experience and contacts within the industry will be invaluable to Tesla as it develops the $70,000 sedan it's calling "Model S."

"He’s got intimate knowledge of vehicle design, planning and manufacturing" Aaron Bragman, an industry analyst with Global Insight, told Wired.com. "He has tremendous contacts among suppliers and others in the industry. They're likely to end up with a better product than they would have otherwise."

Donoughe was among Chrysler's most talented engineers. His résumé includes working on its best-selling minivans and two years leading passenger-car development at Mercedes-Benz. Chrysler tapped him earlier this year to head a top-secret program to replace the Sebring and Avenger models. He quit in March in one of several high-profile departures that came after private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management took over last year.

"He could have gotten a job at any of the automakers," Bragman says. "For him to end up at Tesla is surprising."

Donoughe will lead all aspects of Tesla's vehicle engineering and manufacturing except the electric drivetrain and oversee more than 100 people. He said in a statement that he took the job "because I am enthusiastic about Tesla's objective to integrate their disruptive EV technology into mainstream automobiles." Tesla's CEO, Ze'ev Drori, said Donoughe's "immediate priorities are to ensure that production of the Tesla Roadster runs smoothly and efficiently and to drive the continued development of our next car."

Tesla started building Roadsters in March. Darryl Siry, the company's VP of marketing, sales and service, tells Wired.com about two dozen have been built and almost half that many delivered to customers. The company is still working on an improved transmission that will be retrofitted into earlier cars once it's introduced later this year. The goal is to have 40 Roadsters rolling off the assembly line each week by the beginning of next year. Siry says the company plans to fill several more executive positions and could name a CFO within days.

As The Wall Street Journal notes, Donoughe's move to Tesla is another example of a big-name auto executive jumping ship to join a start-up. Murat Guenak, former head of design for Volkswagen AG, joined Mindset AG last year; the company is working on a plug-in hybrid it hopes to launch next year. Gordon Murray, the renowned Formula 1 designer behind the McLaren F1 and Caparo T1 supercars, has launched Gordon Murray Design Ltd. to create the T25 city car.

Photo: Tesla Motors