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Rivian appears to have overcome production woes and is now on track to meet the annual guidance of 52,000 deliveries. Rivian's Q3 production and delivery numbers beat analyst expectations, proving it's still the most successful EV startup in the US.
Rivian has had its ups and downs as it tries to break even and start producing electric vehicles profitably. Its first model, the R1T pickup truck, surprised everyone as the first electric pickup truck to hit the US market. It wasn't just the first, but also genuinely good, praised by critics and customers alike. Still, ramping up production in a challenging economic environment has got the best of Rivian, and the company has been burning through cash at an alarming rate.
The chip crunch, the supply-chain shortages, inflation, and skyrocketing interest rates have pushed Rivian into the corner. Instead of crumbling, the startup emerged stronger from the situation. It developed its own electric motors and moved to vertically integrate more components to slash costs. Rivian also launched more affordable variants of its vehicles and increased production pace to meet the increased demand.
According to a recent WSJ story, Rivian is looking to cut up to $40,000 per vehicle in parts and production expenses. This could be achieved by improving the manufacturing process, simplifying vehicle architecture, and economy of scale. Rivian lost about $30,000 with every vehicle sold in the second quarter, which means the cost-cutting measures should lead to breaking even in the near term. This is good, considering that Rivian's pile of cash is melting away.
Rivian's efforts have not been in vain, as the Q3 results show. The EV startup announced that it produced 16,304 electric vehicles, 16% more than in the previous quarter and a whopping 121% increase over Q3 2022. For the first nine months, Rivian produced 39,691 cars, a remarkable result. Deliveries are no less impressive, with 15,564 Rivian EVs matched to a buyer in the third quarter.
This is 23% more than in the second quarter, raising the total 2023 deliveries to 36,150. More importantly, analysts estimated that Rivian would deliver about 14,000 vehicles in the third quarter, citing weakening demand. Rivian proved them wrong and now needs another 15,580 deliveries by the end of the year to meet the 52,000 annual guidance. As estimated in the first quarter, Rivian will likely beat it, but it kept guidance unchanged.
Now everyone's eyes are on the third quarter financial results, which Rivian announced it would publish on November 7 after market close. As usual, this will be followed by an audio webcast at 5:00 PM ET the same day to discuss the performance and outlook for the company. Investors are anxious to see whether margins improved as Rivian scaled production. They all want to hear that Rivian stopped the cash bleeding and is floating toward profitability.
The chip crunch, the supply-chain shortages, inflation, and skyrocketing interest rates have pushed Rivian into the corner. Instead of crumbling, the startup emerged stronger from the situation. It developed its own electric motors and moved to vertically integrate more components to slash costs. Rivian also launched more affordable variants of its vehicles and increased production pace to meet the increased demand.
According to a recent WSJ story, Rivian is looking to cut up to $40,000 per vehicle in parts and production expenses. This could be achieved by improving the manufacturing process, simplifying vehicle architecture, and economy of scale. Rivian lost about $30,000 with every vehicle sold in the second quarter, which means the cost-cutting measures should lead to breaking even in the near term. This is good, considering that Rivian's pile of cash is melting away.
Rivian's efforts have not been in vain, as the Q3 results show. The EV startup announced that it produced 16,304 electric vehicles, 16% more than in the previous quarter and a whopping 121% increase over Q3 2022. For the first nine months, Rivian produced 39,691 cars, a remarkable result. Deliveries are no less impressive, with 15,564 Rivian EVs matched to a buyer in the third quarter.
This is 23% more than in the second quarter, raising the total 2023 deliveries to 36,150. More importantly, analysts estimated that Rivian would deliver about 14,000 vehicles in the third quarter, citing weakening demand. Rivian proved them wrong and now needs another 15,580 deliveries by the end of the year to meet the 52,000 annual guidance. As estimated in the first quarter, Rivian will likely beat it, but it kept guidance unchanged.
Now everyone's eyes are on the third quarter financial results, which Rivian announced it would publish on November 7 after market close. As usual, this will be followed by an audio webcast at 5:00 PM ET the same day to discuss the performance and outlook for the company. Investors are anxious to see whether margins improved as Rivian scaled production. They all want to hear that Rivian stopped the cash bleeding and is floating toward profitability.
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