(San Francisco) U.S. electric vehicle maker Rivian nearly tripled its second-quarter net losses to $1.7 billion and expects its finances to worsen further this year even though it expects to meet production targets .
Posted at 6:37 p.m.
The maker of electric pickup trucks and SUVs reaffirmed plans to build 25,000 vehicles this year, in an earnings release on Thursday. There are 6,954 vehicles produced during the first half.
Demand isn’t slacking — Rivian says it has 98,000 pre-orders from the United States and Canada in its boxes as of June 30 — but the company is struggling to get all the parts and components together.
“The supply chain continues to be the factor that limits our production”, indicated the group, which nevertheless notes “progress” and hopes to be able to “add a second production line” by the end of the quarter in Classes.
Rivian, which made $364 million in revenue from April to June, attributed its widening losses to its increased investment in people and technology, among others.
The manufacturer has planned to reduce its expenses, but still expects its annual operating losses to reach 5.45 billion dollars, instead of the 4.75 billion initially announced.
Its title lost about 3% on Wall Street during electronic trading after the close of trading on Thursday.
The company stormed onto Wall Street in late 2021, buoyed by shareholder enthusiasm for the electric vehicle sector and Amazon’s commitment to buy 100,000 of its pickup trucks by 2030.
It then fell back and missed its initial target of producing 1,200 vehicles last year, making only 1,015.
At the end of July, it announced that it would reduce its workforce by 6%, or around 840 jobs cut, but without touching the production teams, because it no longer manages to raise new capital as easily.
“Over the past six months, the world has changed dramatically, with inflation reaching record highs, interest rates rising rapidly and commodity prices continuing to climb, all of which have contributed to the tightening of markets. financiers,” explained Rivian boss RJ Scaringe.