Sometimes one gets the impression that in addition to Tesla and traditional car brands, nobody is making electric cars. The reality is different: there are many manufacturers that have already started their production activities, delivering cars ready for use. There are so many brands in China, we just mention a handful: BYD, NIO, XPeng, Li Auto, Zeekr. In the United States, however, there are Lucid and Rivian. Of course, the majority of these names do not have a European presence; but the world is larger than a small continent (only Oceania is less vast) and it is right to observe what happens ‘outside’.
Precisely for the aforementioned reasons, you understand how complicated it is to emerge for a brand like Rivian, unsupported by the enormous marketing power that Tesla manages to express. Everything had started well for the company founded by RJ Scaringe, thanks to the interest of Amazon (huge order for electric vans), the presentation of two complementary cars (SUV and pick-up) with many interesting features and a 13.7 billion dollar IPO.
As Il Sole 24 Ore recalls, however, everything did not go as planned. “Market capitalization was $ 153.3 billion at its top, more than 35 times its estimated sales. And then the Californian startup suffered more than others from the Fed’s choice to raise interest rates. Investors fled growth stocks. The drop on the stock market was close to 90% from the highs. The recent presentation of the second quarter accounts showed that the net loss increased to $ 1.71 billion, from $ 580 million in 2021.“. In short, there is an ongoing financial problem and it would be a shame to throw away a potential that has always been considered high.
What could happen? Scaringe continues to aim for 25,000 cars produced by the end of 2022, but has built just over 7,000 to date. The objectives are clear, but there are no certainties for the future. Among analysts there are those who define Rivian as a ‘zombie’ company, therefore not very interesting for investors. Others continue to count on Amazon’s presence and increased market share for electric cars, which should favor companies like this one. The next budgets will be decisive.
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