Lordstown Motors appoints longtime supplier executive Daniel Ninivaggi as CEO

Electric truck maker Lordstown Motors Corp. said on Thursday it appointed Daniel Ninivaggi as its CEO with immediate effect, handing over the company's reins to a key former employee of activist investor Carl Icahn at a time it is facing intense regulatory scrutiny and production challenges.

The company's founder and former CEO Steve Burns and CFO Julio Rodriguez resigned in June following the board's conclusions from an internal investigation into claims made by short-seller Hindenburg Research.

In March, Lordstown's shares slumped after Hindenburg disclosed that it had taken a short position on the stock, saying the company had misled investors. Lordstown has previously warned it needs to raise additional capital.

"Job No. 1 is to make sure we stay on track from a production standpoint," Ninivaggi told Reuters in a telephone interview. "Without that, you can't raise capital."

Ninivaggi, 57, was the former CEO of Icahn Enterprises LP, controlled by Carl Icahn. While working for Icahn, Ninivaggi was Co-Chairman and Co-CEO of Federal Mogul Holdings Corp., an $8 billion supplier of powertrain, chassis, sealing, brake and other automotive components, prior to its sale to Tenneco Inc. in 2018.

Ninivaggi is no longer affiliated with Icahn, a Lordstown spokeswman told Automotive News in an e-mail.

Ninivaggi, who serves as the chairman of auto parts maker Garrett Motion Inc., has also been a director at companies including Motorola Mobility, Navistar International and Hertz Global Holdings.

Last month, Lordstown said a hedge fund had committed to purchasing up to $400 million of the startup's shares over a three-year period. Executives said that the firm was exploring other financing options, including debt.

Lordstown, which hung the "open for business" sign on its northeastern Ohio plant earlier this month, has struggled with the launch of its Endurance pickup truck.

Lordstown still faces scrutiny from federal prosecutors in Manhattan and officials with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission related to its merger with a special-purpose acquisition company and statements it previously made about preorders for its vehicles.

Shares in Lordstown closed Thursday's trading up 17.8 percent to $6.49.

Automotive News contributed to this report.