Rivian had some good and bad news in its quarterly report. They expect to save money by moving the production of their upcoming R2 model to their factory in Normal, Illinois. They also plan to spend less money than they thought. However, they still predict they’ll lose money for the year, but they hope to make some profit by the end of the year.
In the first quarter, Rivian made $1.20 billion, which is more than expected. But they lost $1.48 per share, which is worse than expected. They also had an operating loss of $1.484 billion.
Rivian says they’ll lose about $2.7 billion this year but will spend less money than they planned. They’re moving the start of R2 production to their Normal, Ill., plant, which will save money. They also expect to save more in the following years.
The stock of Rivian dropped 5% in early trading on Wednesday.
RJ Scaringe, the CEO of Rivian, said they reached some important goals this quarter. They produced their 100,000th vehicle in Normal and revealed their new midsize platform.
By moving R2 production to their existing factory in the US instead of their new factory in Georgia, Rivian says they’ll save more than $2.25 billion. They now expect their Normal plant to be able to make 215,000 vehicles every year, including up to 155,000 units of the R2.
At the end of the first quarter, Rivian had $5.98 billion, which is less than they had at the end of the fourth quarter.
Last month, Rivian made 13,980 R1T and R1S vehicles and delivered 13,588 of them. This was more than expected. They still plan to make 57,000 vehicles in 2024.
To cut costs, Rivian reduced their salaried staff by 10%. They’re still aiming to make a small profit by the end of 2024. They also plan to launch their R2 in Europe, which could be a big market for them.
