American electric vehicle startup Rivian Automotive has just beaten Wall Street’s forecast for its production and delivery results in the first quarter of the year.
However, Rivian’s Q1 2024 deliveries indicate a slight decline from the prior quarter as preparations commenced at its Normal factory to cut costs.
Rivian’s Q1 2024 results
Irvine-based Rivian officially released its Q1 production and delivery figures for the first quarter of 2024 on Tuesday, April 2. As per the company data, Rivian produced a total of 13,980 electric vehicles. It indicates a notable decline from 17,541 in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Meanwhile, Rivian’s deliveries reached 13,588 electric vehicles, slightly down from its 13,972 units record in the prior quarter.
Despite these production and delivery declines, Rivian still managed to top Wall Street forecasts of approximately 13,800 units and even its previous guidance of 13,500 EVs. Rivian was also able to exceed delivery expectations of about 13,000 in the first quarter.
It is also worth noting that Rivian projected its electric vehicle deliveries in the first quarter to drop by 10% to 15% compared to Q4 2023. Interestingly, it only declined 3%.
Rivian loss per vehicle
Rivian previously declared plans to close both customer and commercial lines in the second quarter of the year at its Normal EV factory in Illinois to cut costs. In order to do that, the American electric automaker plans to launch new technologies and manufacturing processes.
Such an initiative is crucial for the company, considering that it lost approximately $43,372 for each electric vehicle it produced in the fourth quarter of last year.
While $43,000 is undoubtedly a huge loss, Rivian managed to bring the figure down from more than $124,000 loss per vehicle in Q4 2022. Like most electric vehicle startups, Rivian also handles higher interest rates and inflation. Refer to the table below:
Q3 ’22 | Q4 ’22 | Q1 ’23 | Q2 ’23 | Q3 ’23 | Q4 ’23 | |
| Rivian loss per vehicle | $139,277 | $124,162 | $67,329 | $32,594 | $30,500 | $43,372 |
In February, Rivian decided to cut 10% of its salaried workforce. Chief Executive RJ Scaringe explained that the decision was part of the company’s efforts to maximize its prospects for impact and expansion.
Rivian concluded the quarter with $9.37 billion in cash and equivalents.
Rivian to launch the R2
Rivian also introduced its lower-cost R2 electric mid-size SUV in March. It is expected to hit the market with a base price of approximately $45,000.
Rivian seeks to accelerate the R2’s market launch by delaying the development of its $5 billion factory in Georgia. The move will enable the company to focus on initiating production in Normal, Illinois.
Rivian asserted that this strategy would help the company save $2.25 billion and keep operations running through the commencement of R2 production.
Excitingly, the company plans to launch the Rivian R2 globally as part of its expansion goals. CEO Scaringe previously disclosed that the model had already collected more than 68,000 reservations in just under 24 hours.
Apart from the R2, the company also revealed an even smaller and cheaper R3 and high-performance R3X.
Due to the factory shutdown, Rivian now expects its electric vehicle production to remain flat in 2024 at about 57,000. Rivian reiterated its EV guidance on Tuesday.
Rivian announced plans to release its Q1 2024 financial results on May 7 after the market close. The live webcast will be available here.
