Back in November 2021, I asked “What edge does Rivian have in the truck or EV market?” and questioned the company’s stratospheric market cap. It has been two years. How is the company doing and how is the stock doing?
Given the calculation that working class subsidies to elite owners of EVs are $50,000 per vehicle (direct tax credits, higher costs for gas-powered cars due to EV percentage sales requirements, subsidized electricity), the company itself should be profitable. MotorTrend says otherwise: “Rivian Loses a Huge Amount on Every Vehicle It Sells” (October 5, 2023).
From May 2023, in the lower Manhattan neighborhood favored by elites (Chelsea):
Losing only $50k in each car is pretty good, compared to Lucid who loses $227k:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/lucid-electric-vehicle-losses-51035f63
Well, Rivian pulled off “The Old Fat-Finger”:
https://www.theautopian.com/rivian-bricks-infotainment-systems-thanks-to-fat-finger-mistake/
If I understand, when Tesla started, their average car was in the 100k range.
After years of getting the operating going, they decreased the price of their lowest model to around $40.
In the case of Ford, they started selling the car at around $40k, even though the cost was closer to $80k.
I’m not surprised that launching a new car at it’s near-eventual price means selling the car for 1/2 price in the early years, and bringing that cost down.
This graph looks promising: https://electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/10/Rivian-profitability.jpeg
(The question of company valuation is a different one.)