The future of Rivian

[mkg3]

Mass production is a relative term in each context.

Far more smartphones (iPhone) are produced than any one auto model (e.g., F150). Commercial jet aircraft (e.g., 737, A321) far more than military fighter (e.g., F-35), and so on.

In each case, the manufacturing is optimized for the demand and the affordability of the product. Just as auto production is.

I recall years ago, meeting someone from Champion spark plug manufacturing. Talk about mass production. You can imagine that there are millions of spark plugs produced a year. I'm sure tire manufactures will tell the same story. They all have unique issues and challenges.

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[JacobAZ]

Mass production refers more to how items are produced than how many. A company can have 1000 potters making coffee mugs by hand 1 per employee per day (365,000 output for the company per year). This is not mass production. Complex things like commercial aircraft, space craft, etc. are built in place, mostly by hand, one at a time. The point is, other than Tesla, no new ground up company in US has succeeded for more than 70 years (while many have failed), in part due to the complexity of mass production which is necessary to make complex affordable. The challenge for Rivian and all automakers is to mass produce at an affordable price, which is far more complex than manufacturing anything else.

 

[SwampNut]

 

[NY_Rob]

I worry about the future of FORD, GM, Chevrolet...

Not to worry.. too big to fail!

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

The major headwinds are the self-inflicted poor economic conditions and the resulting high interest rates.

Agreed. Just speaking anecdotally, a lot of my friends are holding off on buying new cars when the price of *waves hands at absolutely everything* is still climbing much faster than their wages.

 

[tgrick]

Not to worry.. too big to fail!

If real adults were running the show I would agree. Sadly, professional leadership is severely lacking to deal with a scenario like this...

 

[ribuck97]

The major headwinds are the self-inflicted poor economic conditions and the resulting high interest rates.

An R2 lease averages around $830 per month, while this same lease signed in 2021 would probably average around $525 per month. With all figures being equal except the interest rate being 3% instead of 10% today.

In 2021, the consumer would have got a $200/month reduction from federal $7500 incentive alone. The lease rate would be around 8% to equal your $525/mo combining both the federal incentive with the customer down payment.

Just the federal incentive alone and a 4% APR with the same depreciation would have put it around $500/mo plus taxes.

Yes, continuing economic downturn, elimination of federal EV/PHEV incentives, and higher interest rates to curb inflation create not a rosy picture. No one denies that...

 

[skyguyscott]

Not to worry.. too big to fail!

TWA
Kodak
Dupont
Sears
Lehman Brothers
Pan Am
Oldsmobile
Woolworths
RCA
Blockbuster
Howard Johnsons
Kmart
Atari
Compaq
Radio Shack
Enron
Black Berry
Pontiac
Alta Vista
Montgomery Ward
Bethlehem Steel
E.F. Hutton
Admiral
General Electric
AT&T
Studabaker
Time Inc.
RKO
Gulf+Western
Standard Oil Company a.k.a Sohio
..... well, you get the idea...

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