Despite the challenges it faces as it installs new technology in its products, Rivian is offering an optimistic outlook as it raises its production forecast for this year, reviews an agreement to sell its battery-electric trucks exclusively to Amazon and hints that it is preparing to unveil a new vehicle. trolley.
The fledgling electric vehicle company, based in Irvine, California, is trimming its losses by cutting costs and increasing production, executives say during a call with analysts as Rivian publishes its third-quarter financial report.
“It was a strong quarter as we continued to achieve our operational and financial goals,” says RJ Scaringe, CEO of Rivian.
Intimidation (Pictured, bottom left) The company’s revised agreement with Amazon, which owns a 20% stake in Rivian after a $1 billion investment, gives the BEV maker the opportunity to sell commercial trucks to other customers, it says. He says this will help more companies reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
“With more than 10,000 EDVs (electric delivery vans) on the road and 260 million packages delivered, we are already seeing a tangible impact from our initial rollout. “We are excited to continue our work with Amazon to deliver their initial order of 100,000 vehicles, along with a diverse of new business customers.
Rivian expects to deliver more than 54,000 cars this year, more than double the number it made in 2022. It is still far behind Tesla, which expects to build 1.8 million battery-powered cars this year, but it is outselling more experienced competitors. Such as General Motors and Ford. , which is striving to launch BEVs.
Scaringe says Rivian’s R1T light truck is maintaining market share with strong pricing while other electric vehicle makers are cutting prices.
“Later this month, we plan to take about a week of downtime for validation to support the integration of engineering design changes into the R1 platform, which will be implemented in the planned downtime in Q2 2024,” he says.
The new technologies include cost reductions across a variety of areas, including the vehicle’s belt, body structure and battery pack, Scarring says, adding: “These technology changes represent Rivian’s continued focus on achieving greater cost efficiencies. They will contribute significantly to achieving margin targets.” Rivian’s long-term total.
Rivian’s CEO also says it will offer a smaller battery pack and a variety of different parts and build kits over the next year.
“What that does is it gives us a wider spread of prices or price options for consumers on the R1 platform so we can essentially target customers who are more price sensitive, as well as customers who are looking to buy a fully loaded type of product,” says Scaringe. “A vehicle with maximum content.” “.
Scaringe says Rivian is focused on developing the company’s next set of products around the R2 platform, which it plans to introduce early next year.
Rivian CFO Claire McDonough says the company built 16,304 vehicles during the third quarter and delivered 15,564, which was the main driver of the $1.3 billion in revenue generated. Rivian lost $477 million, but the total loss per vehicle improved by about $2,000 compared to the second quarter, highlighting improved production efficiency and reduced material costs, McDonough noted.
Rivian’s financial statement shows that the BEV maker ended the quarter with $9.1 billion in cash, including restricted cash and short-term investments to support its future development.
