Electric vehicle (EV) startup Rivian is struggling to hold onto some of its key executives in recent weeks, though the reason for several recent high-profile departures isn’t entirely clear.
A number of executives have left Rivian, including its head of supply chain, its body engineering vice president and head of strategy, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
The departing officials include VP of body and interior engineering Randy Frank, parts purchasing VP Steve Gawronski and head of strategy Patrick Hunt. Additionally, general counsel Neil Sitron left after a 4.5-year stint there.
Rivian’s First International Deliveries Have Started in Canada https://t.co/GQfLKxW6sK
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Frank has been with Rivian since 2019 after working at Ford, while Gawronski left autonomous driving company Zoox in 2018 to join the startup. Hunt, who left the company late last year, had been with them since 2015.
A spokesperson from Rivian said that the company was attempting to be sure it had the talented staff necessary to ramp up vehicle production, though Rivian did not comment on individual reasons for the departures.
The news comes after a rough year for Rivian, seeing a 79 percent drop in its share prices through Monday’s close since its initial public offering (IPO) last year.
Last week, Rivian announced it produced 10,020 vehicles in Q4 2022 from its Normal, Illinois plant, and delivered 8,054 of them. For 2022, it produced 24,337 vehicles and delivered 20,332 vehicles. The production figure was short of its 25,000 annual production guidance.
