Arrival reappoints executives; Peter Cuneo succeeds Sverdlov as CEO
British electric vehicle developer Arrival is reshuffling its leadership team. Denis Sverdlov is stepping down as CEO to become Chairman of the Board of Directors. The company has appointed Peter Cuneo as interim CEO, and there is another strategic change.
Cuneo, who has resigned from the Board and the Audit Committee, thus takes a more active position. “I intend to bring the full depth of my experience to this operational role, ensuring that the Company executes on its next strategic goals,” he said. “I look forward to working closely with Denis, the rest of the Board and our employees for the benefit of all Arrival’s stakeholders.”
At the same time, Avinash Rugoobur stepped down as President and Chief Strategy Officer “for personal reasons”. However, he remains a board member. The company’s new chief strategy officer will be Rexford Tibbens. His new role as Chairman of the Company’s Strategic Planning and Operations Committee will see Tibbens work “closely with management and focus on achieving key milestones across all company divisions, including fundraising,” so Arrival.
The latter will be much needed since the company has been having trouble lately, as reported. At the same time, the reshuffling corresponds with earlier announcements on strategic change. Arrival now focuses on the US market and concentrates all efforts on building its electric vans. UPS is their key customer here.
When announcing the shift, Arrival had listed the recent tax credit as part of the Inflation Reduction Act among the critical factors for the decision. The IRA is expected to offer between $7,500 to $40,000 rebates for commercial vehicles on the large addressable market size and substantially better margins than European business.
Since Arrival realigned its business strategy towards electric transporters, it put zero-emission bus and car development in the background. This means that their ride-hailing car concept for Uber will not be hitting the roads any time soon.
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