Arrival Ltd appoints GM’s Mike Ableson to lead North American Operations

Victoria Tomlinson
1 Oct 2019
  • Arrival Ltd appoints Mike Ableson as CEO of Arrival Automotive North America
  • Ableson joins from GM as Former Vice President of Global Strategy, Portfolio Planning and Chief Engineer for Opel.
  • Arrival is creating Generation 2.0 Electric Vehicles and is expanding operations to the US
Arrival Ltd announces today that Mike Ableson joins the organisation as CEO of Arrival Automotive North America and will lead the electric vehicle company’s expansion to this market. Ableson, GM’s former Vice President of EV Infrastructure and Global Strategy, brings over 35 years of automotive experience and will be reporting directly to CEO of the Arrival Group, Denis Sverdlov.
I am delighted to be welcoming Mike to Arrival - a highly respected automotive veteran. He has unrivalled OEM and mobility startup expertise having been pivotal in bringing vehicles to market around the world and mentoring startups. Mike joins us at an exciting juncture as we begin to emerge from stealth mode and step out onto the global stage. He will be invaluable in realising our ambition of bringing Generation 2.0 Electric Vehicles to the masses and is best placed to bring Arrival to the US market.
Avinash Rugoobur, Chief Strategy Officer, Arrival Group.
Arrival is creating the world’s first Generation 2.0 electric vehicles - electric vehicles for the same price as petrol and diesel equivalents. The company’s unique approach to using micro-factories facilitates rapid expansion to key areas of demand, starting with the UK and USA.Mike will join on 1 October 2019.

Notes to Editors

Arrival is a technology company creating the World’s first Generation 2.0 Electric vehicles - electric vehicles for the same price as petrol and diesel equivalents. Arrival’s ambition is to remove all barriers to electric vehicle adoption - starting with cost. The company has taken a unique approach, designing its vehicles entirely from the ground-up. The result - affordable, light, modular electric vehicles with a range of up to 300 miles and a 50% reduction of total cost of ownership.The company’s autonomous ready platform will start life in the commercial vehicle segment where the rise of e-commerce, predictable routes and overnight depot charging form the perfect combination to help drivers make a seamless switch to EVs. The company is undergoing trials with DHL, UPS, Royal Mail and is partnered with John Lewis Partnership ahead of full scale production in 2021.Arrival has a diverse blend of industrial and product designers, engineers and software developers from some of the world’s most renowned tech companies. Together the team are reimagining vehicles to confront legacy industry challenges to achieve cost parity with combustion equivalents. Arrival has combined reduced complexity, innovative component design, novel materials and software all contained on a truly modular skateboard platform.Founded in 2015, Arrival is headquartered in the UK, where it has a manufacturing facility in Banbury and an R&D centre in London. Arrival is continually expanding its global footprint, currently employing over 700 people between its offices in the UK, USA, Israel, Russia and Germany.