Rivian (RIVN) – Get Report Rivian Automotive, Inc. class A he was scared, but the electric vehicle manufacturer made up for it.
The young manufacturer of electric SUVs and pickups has just cleared up some of the many doubts that hang over its short-term future.
The company, based in Irvine, California, has confirmed its goal of producing 25,000 vehicles in 2022, despite supply chain disruptions, chip shortages and rising raw material prices. These problems made it difficult to increase the rate of production.
“Based on our latest understanding of the supply chain environment, we reaffirm the annual guidelines we provided during our call for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2021 of 25,000 total production units,” the company said in a letter to its shareholders.
As of May 9, the carmaker has produced ~ 5,000 vehicles.
“The supply chain remains a bottleneck in our production. This challenge has continued in a small number of technical components such as semiconductors, as well as several non-semiconductor components,” Rivian explained.
Affordable mid-size electric SUV
“As of March 31, 2022, we were forced to stop production for a longer period than planned, which resulted in the loss of approximately a quarter of the planned production time due to supplier restrictions.
But “encouragingly, as we showcase our production ramp, our suppliers rely on us to ensure we can achieve our goals,” the company added.
Rivian
Rivian also said he ended the first quarter with $ 17 billion in cash, which seems enough to launch an affordable mid-size SUV, the R2, at the new factory.
“We have optimized the product plan and associated operating costs to ensure we have a path to launch R2 in Georgia in 2025 with our current cash available,” the company explained.
In early May, Rivian signed an agreement with the authorities in the American state of Georgia. The agreement will allow the carmaker to accelerate the construction of a $ 5 billion factory east of Atlanta. It will be the second vehicle manufacturing site for the company after Normal, Ill.
Construction is scheduled to begin this summer, and the first vehicles are expected to derail in 2024. When production operations are fully launched, the factory will be able to produce as many as 400,000 vehicles a year.
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The agreement will also give Riviana, which was founded in 2009 and went public in 2021, $ 1.5 billion in public subsidies from Georgia. The carmaker currently produces three vehicles at its Normal plant: the R1T electric pickup, the R1S electric SUV and the RCV electric commercial van.
As of May 9, Rivian has recorded over 90,000 net R1T pre-orders from consumers in the U.S. and Canada, including 10,000 pre-orders since the price rose in March, with an average price of over $ 93,000, the company said.
These numbers show that the demand for Rivian vehicles remains high.
Ford sells, Soros buys
Shares of Riviana, which lost 78% of its value to $ 22.79 since January before being announced on May 11, have since risen 29.61% to $ 26.70 in two trading sessions.
That, however, did not stop Ford (F) – Download the Ford Motor Company report, one of Rivian’s largest shareholders, from the sale of additional shares. In a document submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 13, this car manufacturer stated that it sold 7 million shares of Rivian on the same day at a price of 26.88 dollars. Ford now owns only 86.95 million shares of Rivian shares.
This is the second time in less than a week that Ford has sold Rivian shares. The auto giant sold 8 million shares of Riviana on May 9 at a price of 26.90 dollars.
After increasing in value in 2021, Ford’s stake in Riviano has fallen sharply since January, causing huge losses for the carmaker. Ford’s stake in Rivian was estimated at $ 5.1 billion on March 31, more than half the $ 10.6 billion at the end of 2021, the company said.
Ford is competing with the Rivian, with the fully electric F-150 Lightning pickup.
Rivian
If Ford sells, Rivian’s other shareholders will maintain their trust in him. This is the case with e-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN) – Download report from Amazon.com, Inc.which as of December 31 retains its 17.74% stake.
“Rivian is an important partner for Amazon, and we are excited about the future,” a spokesman said in an e-mail statement. “Setting up 100,000 electric vehicles for delivery by 2030 is no small feat, and we remain committed to working with Rivian to make it a reality.
Legendary investor George Soros has also just shown great confidence in Rivian. Indeed, Soros Fund Management has increased its stake in the automotive group.
The firm has held nearly 20 million shares of Riviana – $ 19,835,761 – as of Dec. 31 worth $ 2 billion. But as of March 31, Soros Fund Management had bought just over 6 million additional shares of Riviana – 6,045,000 – according to a May 13 filing with the SEC.
In all, the billionaire’s fund owns just over 25.88 million shares of Rivian shares, valued at just over $ 691 million at the closing price of Rivian shares on May 13.