Public sightings of Rivian’s R1T pickup stay uncommon, even in California the place the EV startup is predicated.
However there’s growing photographic proof of the good-looking truck on social media, cruising down the freeway or juicing up at a public charger.
Captions usually embody the phrase “noticed within the wild,” together with exclamation factors and excited emojis. The general public pleasure sparked by the R1T’s presence, nevertheless, contrasts with Rivian’s struggles to ramp up manufacturing for the pickup, together with the R1S SUV that shares the platform.
The scarcity of the Rivian vehicles, almost six months after launch, is one among a number of points the younger automaker is prone to handle in its fourth-quarter earnings report after the market shut on Thursday.
Like the remainder of the business, Rivian now faces elements shortages and rising prices, but additionally a temper of mistrust from early adopters who’ve pushed back on steep worth hikes.
This week, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe predicted that the auto business as a complete will proceed to endure from provider bottlenecks, notably from a scarcity of laptop chips wanted to function primary car capabilities.
“I believe we will see semiconductor shortages for the following 12 months,” Scaringe stated on the CERAWEEK convention in Houston on Tuesday, in keeping with Reuters.
Final week, Scaringe had lamented rising materials prices on the whole lot from sheet steel to seats in a letter to clients justifying worth will increase for the R1T and R1S. And that was earlier than the leap in commodity costs this week brought on by contemporary financial sanctions towards Russia.
Rivian shares closed at $43.95 on Wednesday, down 32 % from a month earlier. The inventory was decrease by 44 % in comparison with its Nov. 9 preliminary public providing at $78 per share, and decrease by 74 % in comparison with its document excessive shut of $172.01 on Nov. 16.
Rivian stated in December that it had 71,000 buyer pre-orders for the R1T and R1S. Individually, the corporate is making supply vans for Amazon, a monetary backer.
The automaker stated it delivered 920 shopper automobiles final yr, principally the R1T pickup. That leaves a large order backlog for Rivian’s plant in Illinois, even because it strikes ahead with a second manufacturing facility location in Georgia. Up to date manufacturing numbers are anticipated on Thursday.