The electric brand Rivian recently showed its Normal, Illinois manufacturing facility at full capacity. The first car was delivered and the first media deliveries for road tests by specialized websites and magazines started. The fleet of R1T electric pickups is expanding more and more, and it is already good news for the company which also counts on the economic support of Amazon and Ford.
However, having failed to earn anything to date, because deliveries will only be budgeted afterwards, Rivian’s manufacturing adventure started with a net loss of one billion dollars in the first half of 2021, compared to a zero in the box in revenues. The company, according to CarBuzz reports, recalled that “the development phase is about to end and therefore no revenues have been generated”. Over 48,000 pre-orders of the pickup are currently in force, requested by citizens of the United States and Canada. There is also Amazon’s huge 100,000 commercial vehicle order that is expected to start shortly.
The initial debt is a ballast that is largely justifiable as Rivian, like Tesla, basically started from scratch in terms of design, production infrastructure and personnel. Today it invests not only in models, but also in the charging network. If the business plan goes well, the debt could soon be eliminated thanks to sales, deliveries and the exploitation of the columns. However, further investors and sponsors will be needed to put all the items on the balance sheet back in order, even considering that in this period it is not easy to obtain funds that seem to go in the opposite direction to the automotive sector, perceived as uncertain and still ‘polluting ”.
Elon Musk has repeatedly recalled how in the history of Tesla there have been several difficult moments from an economic point of view, with several near bankruptcies and last-minute help to allow him to continue with the business. For companies that focus only on the electric, without relying on the history of a traditional manufacturer, it is still difficult to reach the ‘big old’ of the sector.