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A number of executives at Rivian, the US electric car company, have recently left, including Randy Frank, vice president of body and interior engineering, Steve Steve Gawronski, vice president of spare parts procurement, Patrick Hunt, senior director of the strategic team, and Neil Sitron, general counsel, according to the Financial Associated Press. It is understood that Frank joined Rivian,Gawronski from Ford in 2019 from Zoox, a self-driving car startup, to Rivian in 2018, and both left around the beginning of this year.

On the news of the departure of senior executives, a spokesman for Rivian said: "as business needs change, we will continue to attract world-class talent to the company." At the same time, it points out that Rivian is going through a period of challenge. Although it launched its first all-electric model, it missed its important production target of 25000 vehicles last year, about 700 cars short of that target, in part because of difficulties in obtaining spare parts. In fact, Rivian2022 had an earlier production target of 50, 000 vehicles, but in March last year, due to tight supply, Rivian lowered its 2022 production target to 25000 vehicles from 50000. Analysts had expected Rivian to produce nearly 40, 000 EV vehicles in 2022, but the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the impact of the epidemic intensified supply constraints, forcing Rivian to adjust its annual sales target.

Rivian, founded in 2009, is an electric car manufacturer backed by Amazon and Ford, headquartered in Irvine, California. Founder RJ Scaringe graduated from Rensselaer Institute of Technology in the United States because he was also a car fan and received a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After graduating in 2009, RJ Scaringe founded the Mainstream Motors car factory, which specializes in sports cars. In 2010, Mainstream Motors was renamed Rivian and transferred from sports cars to pure electric pickups.

It is understood that Rivian's planned products include electric SUV, pickup trucks and trucks, mainly focusing on electric pickup vehicles Rivian R1T and electric SUV Rivian R1SRivian. Rivian has a factory in Illinois with a planned production capacity of about 150000 units. Rivian focuses on the domestic pickup market, which is in high demand in the United States, and the first electric pickup R1T was released in September 2021. At present, Rivian has completed eight rounds of financing, including Amazon, Ford Motor Company, BlackRock and other well-known companies, of which Amazon is the largest shareholder of Rivian, with a 20% stake. At present, Rivian has three all-electric models, namely, the R1T pickup truck, the R1s SUV and the EDV 700 minivan customized for Amazon, and Rivian officially delivered the first vehicles in September 2021.

On November 1, 2021, Rivian was listed on Nasdaq at a price of $78 per share. At one point, it rose to $119.46 in intraday trading, closing at $100.73, with a total market capitalization of $85.9 billion. Just two days after listing, Rivian's market capitalization surpassed that of established automakers such as Ford and GM, breaking $100 billion at one point. But the good times did not last long. Due to the chaos in the supply chain, Rivian's production plan was disrupted for a time, resulting in a rise in its production costs. As of press time, Rivian closed at $17.080 a share, with a total market capitalization of $15.73 billion, down more than $80 billion from its IPO market capitalization.

According to the Rivian plan, four assembly plants will be built around the world. in addition to the existing plant in Normal, Illinois, a second plant will be built in the United States, and one plant is expected to be built in Europe and China, with an annual capacity of 1 million vehicles by 2030. With the frequent personnel changes at the top of Rivian and the fact that Rivian is still losing money, it will be very difficult for Rivian to build a production capacity of 1 million vehicles by 2030.

Figures show that Rivian's revenue in the third quarter was $536 million, falling short of market expectations of $551.6 million, compared with about $1 million in the same period last year. The net loss was $1.724 billion, compared with $1.23 billion in the same period last year. In the fourth quarter, Rivian delivered 8054 vehicles and produced 24337 vehicles in 2022, with 20332 delivered. Some insiders pointed out that the frequent departure of Rivian executives undoubtedly has a great impact on sales, the company's sales failed to climb quickly, the main person in charge is to take responsibility. As for the new entrepreneurial car-building forces, investors also need management to make an explanation, so they have no choice but to leave.

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