Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com | LinkedIn | Twitter
Rivian‘s CEO will advance with a reorganization in the company management to “keep pace with projected growth plans”, Bloomberg reported on Friday. Rivian‘s Executive Vice President, Charly Mwangi, that entered the U.S. electric vehicle maker in May 2020 is now departing the company. In addition, Rivian will split the leadership of commercial and retail arms.
On March 14, Rivian Automotive announced the hiring of Frank Klein as Chief Operations Officer, effective Wednesday, on June 1. He will be based in Normal, IL, and will report directly to Rivian’s CEO RJ Scaringe. Klein succeeds Rod Copes, who retired from the position last year.
Frank most recently held the position of President at Austria-based automotive contract manufacturer Magna Steyr, a subsidiary of Canadian-based Magna International.
At Rivian, Frank will lead the buildout of robust and stable operations processes as well as scaling vehicle production across several new programs. He will reinforce Rivian’s ongoing effort to achieve greater vertical integration in logistics, manufacturing, and operations. Frank Klein said,
I’m hugely excited to be joining Rivian. It’s a company creating industry leading products and services that are helping to shape the future of the automotive industry. I share RJ’s vision and I’m looking forward to working with him and the team to drive growth and further Rivian’s mission
Frank Klein
Earlier this week, RJ Scaringe participated in the 7th Annual Morgan Stanley Sustainable Futures Conference in New York City.
According to SEC form filed on May 16, Rivian Automotive CEO Robert Scaringe added 41,000 shares for $1.05 million, at an average price of $25.77 per share. Scaringe owns now a total of 169,175 shares directly, 4,337,997 through a trust and 4,595 by LLC.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Rivian Automotive legal battle with Commercial Vehicle Group, could affect the production of the Amazon destined Vans. The electric vehicle maker sued in March the Ohio-based company accusing it of violating the supply contracts for seats.
Rivian claims that the supplier nearly doubled the initially agreed-upon price per unit, the court filings reviewed by WSJ said. The Commercial Vehicle Group denied saying the price increases seen only happened after the design changes. The automaker warned that the production of the Vans can be stopped if Commercial Vehicle Group stops providing seats, Court Filings say.
In early May, Rivian‘s van was seen in Germany with a Swedish license plate. Recently, the company declined to disclose how many of these vehicles were built so far, but during the recent visit by Media to the facility, dozens of those were seen ready to be delivered apart from the ones on the assembly line.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | info@claudio-afonso.com | LinkedIn | Twitter