Rivian announces production ramp to 4,401 electric vehicles last quarter

Rivian announced that it produced 4,401 electric vehicles during the last quarter – a significant ramp-up as supply chain issues are subsiding according to CEO RJ Scaringe.

Today, the automaker released its delivery and production results for Q2 2022 and confirmed that it managed to roughly double production quarter to quarter.

Rivian wrote in a press release today:

Rivian Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: RIVN) today announced production totals for the quarter ending June 30, 2022. The company produced 4,401 vehicles at its manufacturing facility in Normal, Illinois and delivered 4,467 vehicles during the same period.

That brings the total of vehicles produced by Rivian to 7,969 since the start of production late last year. The automaker doesn’t break down the results by model, but the R1T electric pickup truck is expected to account for most of those vehicles produced, with the rest being a few R1S electric SUV and some delivery vans for Amazon.

In the same press release, Rivian reiterated that its goal of producing 25,000 vehicles this year is still achievable:

These figures remain in line with the company’s expectations, and it believes it is on track to deliver on the 25,000 annual production guidance previously provided.

This would require a significant ramp in the second half of the year, but CEO RJ Scaringe did comment today that those new results show that the company is working through its supply chain and production ramp issues:

The automaker is still working through a large backlog of reservations for both the R1T and R1S. So the demand is not really a problem, but it is the first time the company is ramping up production of a vehicle and it is expected to run into more issues.

Electrek’s Take

This is certainly encouraging to see from Rivian, but they are going to have to keep it up if they really want to achieve 25,000 units this year. That’s almost doubling every quarter until the end of the year, but as we have previously reported, the bigger concern is Rivian achieving a positive gross margin on these vehicles before it starts producing too many of them.

If it starts losing money on 10,000 vehicles a quarter, it will burn through its big cash pile faster than most investors would like right now.

To be clear, I think the company will still be losing money overall as it expands its infrastructure, especially its service centers, but that’s okay, as long as it doesn’t lose money on just making the vehicles.