FILE PHOTO: A Tesla dealership is seen in West Drayton, just outside London, Britain, February 7, 2018. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

(Reuters) - Tesla Inc TSLA.O on Friday announced a number of key executive hires including former GE and General Motors executive James Zhou as its China CFO and Neeraj Manrao, a former Apple executive, as director of energy manufacturing.

Zhou previously served as CFO for Asia Pacific and India for Ingersoll Rand.

"We're excited to welcome a group of such talented people as we continue to ramp (up) Model 3," Tesla said in a blog post, adding it would announce more hires in the coming days.(bit.ly/2J6hGZy)

China contributed around 17 percent of Tesla’s total revenue in 2017 and the electric carmaker has said it plans to build a gigafactory in the country.

The company on Wednesday slashed up to $14,000 off its Model X in China after Beijing announced major tariff cuts for imported automobiles.

Tesla has seen the departure of several senior executives and is also flattening its management structure as it seeks to improve efficiency and clear up production bottlenecks related to its new Model 3 sedan.