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Rivian Lost $1.6 Billion in Q1 2022, But Strong Demand Keeps It Confident About the Future

Watching new carmakers establish themselves as viable companies started with Tesla in more recent times. Despite that, Lucid and Rivian are the ones showing what it takes to get there without the ever-present bankruptcy risk: deep pockets. Lucid has Saudi Arabia behind its back, and Rivian got essential investors such as Amazon and Ford. That’s what allowed Rivian to lose $1.6 billion in Q1 2022 with no worries.
Rivian lost $1.6 billion in Q1 2022, but it could not care less 12 photos
Photo: Rivian
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According to RJ Scaringe, the company has more than enough money to deliver its R2 platform by 2025 at the new plant it intends to build in Georgia. The Rivian CEO said that cycle times are now three times higher than they were at the beginning of the year, and that the company will manage to manufacture 25,000 EVs this year. Apart from the R1 family (R1T and R1S), the automaker is also making the EDV 700. Scaringe said the EDV 500 – which is shorter and narrower than the EDV 700 – is currently undergoing its final production trials.

Rivian currently has $17 billion in cash and cash equivalents, reinforced by the $95 million in revenue that the company generated by delivering 1,227 vehicles. Considering these numbers, Rivian could generate a revenue of $2 billion if it manages to deliver 25,000 EVs in 2022.

Currently, the company has 100,000 pre-orders without counting the 100,000 EDVs that Amazon reserved. That represents a little less than $15.5 billion in revenues with the prices its vehicles had before May 9. The deal is that the 100,000 pre-orders include 90,000 cars ordered before a price increase and 10,000 more reserved after an increase of up to 20%. In other words, Rivian will make more money than our calculation showed.

That would not be possible if Rivian did not have so much cash in reserve. It would have to depend on the cars it sold each quarter to pay for its previous investments or contract loans. That would significantly reduce its chance of success. Luckily for Rivian and its fans, that is not the case. It will wait for the R2 platform to arrive in three years in a pretty comfortable position.
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About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
Gustavo Henrique Ruffo profile photo

Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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