Rivian reportedly stuck to its forecast production would not rise this year and said deliveries in the third quarter would be slightly lower, as it races to rebuild inventory after a factory shutdown in April designed to cut costs.
Reuters noted Rivian, which makes the R1S SUV and R1T pickups, was seen as one of the few electric vehicle makers with potential to navigate a sharp slowdown in EV demand but a drastic reduction in cost and the rollout of its more affordable SUV were seen crucial to its success.
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With the three week factory retooling, Rivian introduced a new generation of its R1 vehicles with advanced features and a simpler manufacturing process and introduced offers on leases to boost sales of the older generation vehicles.
While that helped Rivian beat second quarter revenue estimates, the company was now dealing with a depleted inventory base and expecting a slight fall in deliveries in the current quarter, CEO RJ Scaringe told Reuters.
Rivian has largely built its dual motor vehicles and was ramping up production of other variations for customers who want vehicles delivered immediately, he said.
Cost reduction from the factory retooling would be realised largely in the second half of the year, Scaringe told Reuters, reaffirming the company’s target of turning its first profit in the last three months of the year.
The results followed Volkswagen Group’s US$5bn investment in Rivian last month as part of a new joint venture to share expertise in EV architecture and software development that would help sustain the US EV maker’s cash balance until it started selling the R2 SUVs.
Rivian still loses thousands of dollars for every vehicle it makes, The company told Reuters its loss amounted to 39% of a vehicle’s sales price, greater than analyst estimates of 34%.
