With the hiring of former Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin advertising veteran Laura Schwab, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe is banking on his rising cadre of seasoned automotive business professionals to ship him a easy launch of the corporate’s first autos.
This yr, Scaringe has crammed his government roster with no less than a half-dozen senior managers who’ve labored at Tesla, Volvo, Toyota, Nissan, Visteon and Lucid Motors. A number of current high-ranking Rivian hires have been from outdoors automotive, equivalent to Harley-Davidson, Royal Enfield and shopper electronics giants.
Schwab, 47, who left Aston Martin on Nov. 13 and final week joined Rivian as vice chairman of gross sales and advertising, a brand new place, brings 20 years of expertise coping with luxurious prospects who do not wince at six-figure sticker costs. Her most up-to-date launch, the Aston Martin DBX, is a $200,000 high-performance SUV.
Rivian’s two autos, the R1T electrical pickup coming in June and the R1S battery-powered SUV slated for an August arrival, begin properly underneath $100,000 however can simply eclipse six figures when loaded with long-range battery packs, further motors and equipment.
Schwab’s arrival comes at a vital time. Rivian’s order books at the moment are open. Prospects who positioned deposits are configuring their autos and finalizing purchases, transitioning the startup right into a revenue-generating firm.
Schwab’s position at Rivian might be in contrast to these she had at JLR and Aston Martin. Rivian will produce solely electrical autos, and it will not promote and repair them by way of dealerships. Like Tesla, it should promote on to customers. Scaringe advised Automotive Information final month Rivian will open 41 company-owned service facilities.
“Laura’s such an thrilling addition to our Rivian workforce,” the corporate mentioned in a press release. “Her expertise in deploying wealthy and really private gross sales and possession experiences for purchasers is a key asset for Rivian as we put together to ship our autos subsequent summer season.”
Automotive Information named Schwab to its 100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry record this yr.
She broke the information of her new job on Instagram: “After a few restful weeks, I’ve come up for contemporary air and new adventures at Rivian.”