Electric vehicle maker Rivian had revenue of $663 million in the fourth quarter and $1.66 billion for the full year. This result was supported by an increase in production and deliveries towards the end of the year, but it was still not enough to meet Wall Street’s expectations. .
Yahoo analysts surveyed expected Rivian to generate $742.4 million in the fourth quarter and $1.73 billion for the full year.
Stocks fell nearly 8% on the news as shareholders focused on missed expectations, recalls and production forecasts for 2023 that are lower than expected but still below expectations.
The company reported a net loss of $1.72 billion in the fourth quarter and $6.8 billion for the full year. On an adjusted basis, he reported a loss of $5.2 billion for the fourth quarter and full year, respectively, of $1.5 billion.
The company attributed the net loss to high inventory costs, particularly component costs, higher than Rivian could realize per vehicle. Rivian also said it suffered losses on firm purchase contracts worth $920 million.
Rivian says it expects these costs to continue into 2023.
In terms of cash burn, Rivian’s fourth quarter and full year operating expenses were $795 million and $3.7 billion, respectively.
The good news is that Rivian has been able to reduce capital expenditure costs. This was primarily due to further build-up of manufacturing capacity at the plant in Normal, Illinois. Rivian’s capital spending in the fourth quarter was $294 million, down from $455 million in the same period last year. Full-year capital spending was $1.4 billion, compared to $1.8 billion in 2021.
For 2023 guidance, Rivian expects to spend $2 billion in capital expenditures to expand production of the R1T truck, R1S SUV and two versions of the commercial van it supplies to Amazon.
Capital spending is also likely to increase as Rivian moves forward with a second domestic manufacturing facility in Georgia. The facility will manufacture the R2 platform designed for smaller, more affordable EVs. Rivian originally planned to introduce R2 in 2025, but pushed it back to 2026 at the end of the third quarter. R2 is central to his Rivian plan to expand its consumer-facing business in addition to its existing commercial business.
Rivian’s cash flow is still negative at $6.4 billion. The company ended his year with $11.6 billion in cash and cash equivalents.
Production and Max Pack are back
Rivian has been struggling with supply chain issues since production of the R1T truck began in late 2021. These issues haven’t subsided well into his 2022, forcing the company to scale back its production guidance from his 50,000 to his 25,000.
Even with its lower, more conservative guidance, Rivian fell short of its target: Rivian produced 24,337 vehicles and delivered 20,332 vehicles in 2022.
After a slow start, the company ramped up production later this year. We produced 10,020 EVs in the fourth quarter and delivered 8,504 in the same period.
On Tuesday, the company boosted its production forecast to 50,000 units. This is still well below the total capacity of the Normal, Illinois plant. When fully operational, the Illinois plant will be able to produce 150,000 EVs a year, with plans to increase to 200,000, Rivian said.
Notably, the company has finally announced a release date for its long-awaited “Max Pack” battery. This is an upgrade to an existing battery configuration. Deliveries of his 400-mile R1S Max Pack variant are expected to begin in Fall 2023.
The company removed the “Max Pack” option from its website late last year. The company said it will make this option available to existing pre-order customers.
remember anguish
Rivian also announced a 2022 recall of sensors in the passenger seatbelt system for certain R1T and R1S vehicles in its full-year and fourth-quarter earnings reports.
The company, which discovered the issue this month, said the number of vehicles potentially involved is 12,716, but “the estimated population affected is less than 1% and fewer than 100 vehicles will require replacement parts.” It is estimated that the test will take no more than 10 minutes. For the very small percentage of parts that need to be replaced, in the same visit he can complete the job within 30 minutes. “
The issue first emerged in July 2022 when Rivian and its suppliers investigated the performance of vehicles in which the “Passenger Airbag Off” light was activated with certain passengers in the passenger seat. As a result, the automaker said it had received a service request.
The company said it has launched an investigation to determine the signal from the seatbelt sensor that detects whether the automatic locking retractor (also known as ALR) is working as intended. As of 27 February 2023, Rivian is not aware of any accidents or injuries related to this issue in any market.
