Electric vehicle startup Rivian, which plans a Georgia factory east of Atlanta, picked up the pace of production and deliveries in the second quarter.
Irvine, California-based Rivian said it assembled 13,992 plug-in vehicles during the three months that ended in June and delivered 12,640 EVs to customers during the period. Those figures represent a 49% boost in production and 59% increase in deliveries, respectively, compared to the first quarter of this year.
Rivian, maker of the R1T truck, R1S SUV and electric delivery vans for Amazon, sustained production issues through much of 2022. Pandemic-influenced supply chain kinks for microchips and other materials hampered Rivian, which was forced to cut in half its original goal to build 50,000 EVs last year.
The company has said it will produce 50,000 vehicles this year at its existing factory in Illinois. Rivian said it built 9,395 vehicles in the first quarter as the company’s assembly lines were upgraded with new technology.
For the first six months of this year, Rivian has produced 23,387 vehicles. If Rivian can maintain or exceed its second-quarter performance for the rest of this year, the company would exceed its annual production goal.
Rivian also said Monday it will announce second-quarter financial result Aug. 8. As a startup, Rivian is expected to burn through billions of dollars as it races to perfect its products and generate sales before reaching profitability. The current economic climate has been challenging for many startups, and Rivian has the added pressure of competing against incumbents like Tesla, General Motors, Ford and others.
In the first quarter, Rivian posted a net loss of $1.35 billion on $661 million in revenue.
Rivian is Georgia’s second-largest economic development recruitment in state history. In 2021, Rivian announced plans to build a $5 billion factory about an hour east of Atlanta in southern Walton and Morgan counties. In exchange for the factory and 7,500 promised jobs, the state and local officials offered Rivian an incentive package valued at $1.5 billion.
The company has said it expects to expand production in Illinois in 2024 and reach profitability late that year. Rivian CEO R.J. Scaringe has said the Georgia factory is vital to the company’s future and will be the home of a new model known as the R2 crossover that will sell at a lower price and be marketed to a broader segment of the new-car market.
Rivian share prices were up Monday on the production news. Cox Enterprises, owner of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, owns about a 4% stake in Rivian.
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