A Tesla official in charge of the company's Cybertruck supply chain has reportedly left to work for Rivian, a competitor in the electric truck market.
Mustapha El Akkari, who oversaw Tesla's non-battery supply chain as head of the raw materials business, has joined Rivian as a senior director of structures and raw materials, according to a source familiar with the situation. Notably, Rivian's R1T pickup truck, which is now available, competes with Tesla's Cybertruck.
Based on his LinkedIn page, El Akkari had worked at Tesla for four and a half years. He was in charge of supervising the company's $16 billion annual expenditure on raw materials.
The Information said in a new report that El Akkari's action is timely for Cybertruck, which has been held up for years by CEO Elon Musk. This, however, is said to be changing in the third quarter of 2023, at least according to Musk.
Other Renowned Tesla Executives to Sign Up With Rivian
El Akkari is not the only prominent Tesla veteran to join Rivian, according to a Gizmodo report.
Charly Mwangi, formerly Tesla's senior director of engineering, has also recently joined Rivian after more than six years at the car company. Nick Kalayjian, who served as vice president of engineering at Tesla for over a decade, has also been added to Rivian.
Though Mwangi is no longer with the rival company, Kalayjian is reportedly still with Rivian and acts as chief product development officer.
Cybertruck Production Was Held Up, Delaying Its Release
This summer, Tesla is expected to begin manufacturing the Cybertruck in preparation for a delivery event later this year. But last month, Musk said that the Cybertruck would not go into volume production until 2024.
In a call with investors in April, Musk said Tesla is working hard to bring the Cybertruck into production, but the electric truck is a challenging product to design and much more challenging to produce. "It takes time to get the manufacturing line going, and this is really a very radical product ... It's not made in the way that other cars are made," he stated, as reported by The Verge.
For example, Musk said in September 2022 that the Cybertruck would be watertight enough to function as a boat that could travel across rivers, lakes, and even oceans as long as the waves were not too strong.
