Rivian Might Be Shaking Up Management. That Isn’t Why Investors Are Excited.

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Rivian

Automotive is shaking up its production plans and management.

“We have updated our product roadmap to drive focus and are making organizational changes to ensure rapid progress and keep pace with our projected growth,” said CEO R.J. Scaringe in an internal email quoted earlier by Bloomberg and confirmed by the company.

Changes to the product roadmap—management’s plan for what vehicles to produce, and when—could mean Rivian could move forward the first deliveries of its sport-utility vehicle, the R1S, now due to reach customers later this year. The company is already delivering the R1T truck.

A likelier possibility is that Rivian would speed up the move toward a second vehicle platform, which is due to make its debut around 2024 or 2025. The R1T and R1S are built on the same platform, an approach that has points in common with how

Tesla

(TSLA) has built is Model S and Model X are. The second platform for Rivian might be analogous to the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y, which came after Tesla’s first two high-volume commercial products.

Offering more different vehicles sooner would be a positive for the stock. Rivian stock was up about 6.2% in midday trading. The

S&P 500
and

Dow Jones Industrial Average
were up 1.7% and 1%, respectively.

At the same time, Charly Mwangi, vice president of manufacturing and engineering, is leaving the electric vehicle start-up. That change comes right before Frank Klein assumes the role of chief operating officer, a move Rivian had disclosed earlier. Klein is coming from auto parts giant

Magna International

(MGA).

Mwangi “has made the decision that it’s time for him to move on from Rivian. Charly joined at a key moment in Spring 2020, and he’s been an important part of bringing our manufacturing capabilities online,” said a Rivian spokeswoman in an emailed statement. “Mr. Klein will oversee production, manufacturing engineering and supply chain.”

The Friday move in the stock adds to recent gains. Rivian shares are up about 17% over the past three days as the

Nasdaq Composite,
and other EV stocks, have rallied.

Tesla stock was up about 6.2% in early trading for a gain of about 20% over the past three days. The Nasdaq rose 2.4% Friday, leaving it up more than 6% over the past three days.

Over the month coming into the recent rally, though, Rivian and Tesla had dropped about 17% and 33%, respectively. Higher costs due to inflation and lower affordability for car buyers with rising interest rates have discouraged investors.

Write to Al Root at [email protected]