James Murdoch, the chief executive of 21st Century Fox and son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has joined the board of Tesla, after months of pressure from investors about the lack of independent directors on the electric car company's board.

Mr Murdoch is joining the board as a director together with Linda Johnson Rice, the chairman of Johnson Publishing, which publishes titles such as EBONY Magazine and JET.

Earlier this year, five investment groups, representing a number of investors, sent a letter to Tesla calling for a shake-up of the board amid criticism chief executive Elon Musk had ties to too many of the directors.

At the time, the board consisted of Mr Musk, his brother Kimbal Musk, who is a director at Mr Musk's SpaceX firm, venture capitalist Ira Ehrenpreis, who is an investor in SpaceX, Steve Jurvetson, a director of SpaceX, Brad Buss, the former chief financial officer of a company bought by Tesla, and Robyn Denholm, the chief operating officer of Australian telecommunications firm Telstra.

“Directors should be held to a higher standard of independence given the conflicts of interest that permeate this board,” the letter to Tesla director Antonio Gracias had said. The group had also called for directors to face a shareholder vote over re-election each year.