Top Execs Depart Floundering Electric Vehicle Startup

Several executives at electric vehicle startup Rivian have departed the company in the past several months as the company struggled with the rollout of its first all-electric vehicles, according to The Wall Street Journal Tuesday.

Rivian confirmed the departure of Vice President of Body and Interior Engineering Randy Frank and Vice President in Charge of Parts Purchasing Steve Gawronski around the start of the year, according to the WSJ. The company missed its target of producing 25,000 vehicles in 2022 by more than 600 vehicles after a supply chain crisis forced the company to have unplanned production line shutdowns totaling 70 days this year, the WSJ reported.

Since the company’s initial public offering in November 2021, when shares closed at roughly $100 per share to make the company worth $86 billion, shares have fallen more than 80% to roughly $16.45 at time of writing, according to Google Finance. Electric vehicle startups struggled in 2022, with Nikola, Lucid and Canoo all posting roughly 80% declines in stock prices, while Elon Musk’s electric vehicle powerhouse Tesla saw prices tumble roughly 70%.

The recent staffing moves will ensure that the company’s talent and staff are appropriate as it ramps up production, a company spokeswoman told the WSJ. Rivian declined to tell the WSJ details regarding specific departures.

Other recently departed executives included Head of Strategy Patrick Hunt, who joined the company in 2015 and left toward the end of 2022, and General Counsel Neil Sitron who left in September 2022 after joining the company in 2018, the WSJ reported.

Rivian did not immediately respond to a Daily Caller News Foundation request for comment.

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