Rivian has reported its production and delivery numbers for Q1 of 2023, initially sending its stock up nearly 8 points.
Rivian has been on a long path of ramping production over the past two years. It was forced to do so while enduring COVID lockdowns, financial strain, and competing in an increasingly competitive EV market. Nonetheless, they survived. And now, the company has released its latest production and delivery numbers, beating investor expectations despite production dropping slightly from Q4.
During the year’s first quarter, Rivian produced 9,395 vehicles and delivered 7,946. Rivian does not provide a breakdown of deliveries by vehicle type. According to Rivian, “These figures remain in line with the company’s expectations, and it believes it is on track to deliver on the 50,000 annual production guidance previously provided.” With these deliveries, Rivian beat investor expectations, despite a slight fall from Q4.
Rivian will report its first-quarter earnings as part of an earnings call on May 9th.
Compared to Q4 of last year, this is a slight decrease, delivering 2.4% fewer vehicles and producing 7.3% fewer vehicles. However, it should be noted that most automakers, including Tesla, often see minimal growth from Q4 to Q1, as evidenced by this graph from Roland Percher on Twitter.
Tesla has successfully fought the current difficult market environment with price reductions and achieved the best Q4 to Q1 increase in recent years. pic.twitter.com/2C2fyxQ2k3
— Roland Pircher (@piloly) April 2, 2023
This slight decrease in production and delivery numbers could be due to several factors. Foremost, Rivian is working to introduce a growing number of vehicle variants, including a smaller Electric Delivery Van and a dual-motor variant of the R1S and R1T. Simultaneously, economic conditions have not improved from last year, and in some regards, they have worsened. Interest rates remain at record highs, making the cost of money higher than ever, and are compounded by lingering high inflation, keeping the prices of items elevated as well.
Following this reporting, Rivian stock first spiked in this morning’s trading but has since plunged by nearly 5%, indicating investors’ uneasiness with this morning’s report.
As Rivian hopes to deliver a record number of vehicles this year, conquering production challenges will be key to customer satisfaction and a recovered stock price. Hopefully, they can do so successfully and ensure more people than ever join the EV transition in 2023.
William is not a Rivian shareholder, nor has he purchased Rivian’s bond offering.
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