Rivian loss triples to nearly $1.7 billion

Rivian Amazon delivery vehicles.

new York Rivian continues to struggle with supply chain difficulties, high costs and fluctuating demand. The US electric car manufacturer from Irvine, California, announced on Thursday evening.

Revenue in the past quarter rose to $364 million. Analysts had expected an average of $335 million. The loss was higher than expected.

The net loss rose to $1.7 billion in the second quarter, almost tripling the same period last year. This increases the pressure on Rivian to quickly deliver more cars and reduce costs.

Profit expectations for the full year are falling: The company is now expecting a loss of 5.4 billion dollars, partly due to higher costs for the raw materials required. Most recently, Rivian had expected an adjusted pre-tax loss of $4.7 billion.

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“Our main focus remains on ramping up production,” explains Rivian. “However, we believe supply chain constraints will continue to be the limiting factor.” The company still expects to produce 25,000 electric vehicles this year.

Wall Street reacted negatively to the numbers. Shares fell more than 2 percent in after-hours trading. Rivian went public in 2021 and ended the quarter with about $15.5 billion in cash and cash equivalents.

Layoffs and a new arrival from Mercedes-Benz

“To say that Rivian’s story was initially disappointing for us (and the stock market) would be an understatement,” wrote Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. But now the company is “on the right track to achieve the forecast of 25,000 vehicles produced in 2022. This is an important barometer.” Rivian’s growth story is “slowly gaining credibility.”

Among other things, Rivian has signed a contract with the online giant Amazon, which is also one of the largest investors. Accordingly, Rivian should deliver 100,000 delivery vans for Amazon by the end of the decade.

The company also announced on Thursday that former Mercedes-Benz manager Harald Kröger is moving into the board of directors.

Rivian is considered a Tesla rival and has been delivering its attractively designed R1T pick-up since September 2021. However, the stock has fallen 62 percent since the beginning of the year. Recently, Rivian, which operates a plant in Normal, Illinois, announced it was laying off 6 percent of its workforce.

Like its competitor Lucid, Rivian had to significantly lower its production targets for 2022, which was met with grumbling on the stock exchange. Both companies rely on the complex development of their own production, with all the known challenges. In contrast, competitor Fisker relies on third-party and contract production.

On Monday, US automakers were given a boost by President Joe Biden’s climate package, which passed the US Senate with a narrow majority on Sunday. Accordingly, electric car buyers should receive a tax credit of $7,500 if they earn less than $150,000. There are $4,000 for used electric cars.

With material from Bloomberg.

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