Rivian Lost $6.8 Billion Last Year as Production Fell Short

The maker of electric trucks said it expected to double production in 2023 as the supply of parts became more reliable.

Rivian, a maker of electric trucks, said on Tuesday that it lost $1.7 billion in the final three months of last year as it struggled with production difficulties.

The loss brings the company’s total losses for 2022 to $6.8 billion and highlights the troubles that once-promising start-ups are having gaining ground on Tesla, which dominates the electric vehicle business. Last week, another young automaker, Lucid Motors, said that it lost $2.6 billion in 2022.

“We expect supply chain challenges to persist into 2023, but with better predictability relative to what was experienced in 2022,” Rivian said in a statement. The company said it expected to produce 50,000 vehicles this year, roughly twice as many as it did in 2022.

Rivian said it brought in $663 million in revenue, and delivered 8,054 vehicles, in the fourth quarter of 2022. On a full-year basis, it had revenue of $1.7 billion, and delivered 20,332 vehicles, in 2022. It produced 24,337 vehicles last year, just short of its reduced goal of 25,000.

The company said it had $11.6 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of December, down from $18.1 billion a year earlier.

The company’s inability to quickly increase production at its plant in Normal, Ill., has limited sales, and its stock price has plunged. On Tuesday, it was trading around $19, down from around $47 a year earlier. The company’s share price was about 8 percent lower in extended trading after the release of its earnings report.

Rivian said it expected to report a loss of $4.3 billion in 2023 before taking into account interest, tax and other expenses.

Category: Technology

Source: NYTimes Technology