2021 Q3 Rivian Shareholder Letter – December 16, 2021. 71K Preorders Received

[Peter del Rio]

To compare Amazon and Rivian is to compare a delivery and warehouse company with a production company with with over 2000 suppliers.

In short, its apple and oranges and an overly simplified analysis.

There is no doubt Jeff Bezos' management style of thinking 3 years ahead has enabled Amazon to evolve into the future but in no way does Rivian have this luxury as it tries to build a "Faberge egg" timely and profitably.

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[Fred6v]

The company is at a critical juncture. The assembly line is running, and they are doubtless working out bugs and optimizing processes. They have to get this right to get Normal to 200k, and they REALLY have to have it under their fingers if they’re going to replicate it in Georgia. Otherwise, you risk “production hell.”
Rushing this for PR is not going to do them any favors - especially not in a Covid world where everything everywhere is delayed.

My guess they are already in production hell. Let's hope they progress to purgatory soon and then heaven when we see our trucks!

 

[ChrissyOne]

My guess they are already in production hell. Let's hope they progress to purgatory soon and then heaven when we see our trucks!

Production hell is not an inevitability, and I see Rivian’s slow pace here as a good sign. Rushing will only create more errors.

That phrase comes from Elon in describing how Tesla ramped up, and I don’t doubt it was hell. We know that Elon personally makes radical changes late in product cycles. We saw this most recently when he suddenly decided that Cybertruck would have 4 wheel steering and 4 motors because he saw what Rivian and GM were doing. THAT is what causes production hell more than anything else.
Creating a strong plan, following it, and making incremental improvements along the way is a better strategy.

 

[virgnia_rivian]

I think the stock is a good buy today on the dip. The question is where is the bottom, but the market as a whole is having a bad day.

Back to the earnings call, supply chain issues didn't just creep up since the IPO, so using that excuse is a bit of cop out. I think they ticked off some short term investors by not hitting their 2021 targets, but long term things still look strong from a financials perspective. How long will investors be patient?

 

[Fred6v]

Production hell is not an inevitability, and I see Rivian’s slow pace here as a good sign. Rushing will only create more errors.

That phrase comes from Elon in describing how Tesla ramped up, and I don’t doubt it was hell. We know that Elon personally makes radical changes late in product cycles. We saw this most recently when he suddenly decided that Cybertruck would have 4 wheel steering and 4 motors because he saw what Rivian and GM were doing. THAT is what causes production hell more than anything else.
Creating a strong plan, following it, and making incremental improvements along the way is a better strategy.

I define hell as significant unexpected delays and we surely have that with Rivian. I'm a pre order holder but not unalloyed fanboy ?

 

[ChrissyOne]

Yeah, in production we call unexpected delays “Friday.” ?

 

[Dbeglor]

Back to the earnings call, supply chain issues didn't just creep up since the IPO, so using that excuse is a bit of cop out. I think they ticked off some short term investors by not hitting their 2021 targets, but long term things still look strong from a financials perspective. How long will investors be patient?

Investors? 3-5 years.

Speculative day traders/amateurs? Who cares.

 

[Max]

I didn’t read the report but Yahoo finance was saying Rivian goal is to certify R1 for direct sale/delivery to customers? Does anyone know what does that exactly mean? And if it has not happen already, how did we get two real owner deliveries?

 

[TessP100D]

Production hell is not an inevitability, and I see Rivian’s slow pace here as a good sign. Rushing will only create more errors.

That phrase comes from Elon in describing how Tesla ramped up, and I don’t doubt it was hell. We know that Elon personally makes radical changes late in product cycles. We saw this most recently when he suddenly decided that Cybertruck would have 4 wheel steering and 4 motors because he saw what Rivian and GM were doing. THAT is what causes production hell more than anything else.
Creating a strong plan, following it, and making incremental improvements along the way is a better strategy.

Elon is watching closely.

 

[harkco]

I didn’t read the report but Yahoo finance was saying Rivian goal is to certify R1 for direct sale/delivery to customers? Does anyone know what does that exactly mean? And if it has not happen already, how did we get two real owner deliveries?

I think someone said the first two owners were RJ and his CFO.

 

[ChrissyOne]

Elon is watching closely.

Elon is always with us.?

 

[LoneStar]

Will admit I didn't read through this whole thread for answer...

On the call, did Rivian reveal or hint at what level of production quantity/capacity the new GA plant is expected to contribute? Any indication of the timing for initial deliveries from the new GA plant?

 

[Max]

I think someone said the first two owners were RJ and his CFO.

I didn’t mean R1S. I was talking documented non employees that received R1T one of which has been posting on the forum.

 

[ChrissyOne]

Will admit I didn't read through this whole thread for answer...

On the call, did Rivian reveal or hint at what level of production quantity/capacity the new GA plant is expected to contribute? Any indication of the timing for initial deliveries from the new GA plant?

They estimate full capacity will be around 400k units per year.

 

[Diddy123]

Will admit I didn't read through this whole thread for answer...

On the call, did Rivian reveal or hint at what level of production quantity/capacity the new GA plant is expected to contribute? Any indication of the timing for initial deliveries from the new GA plant?

I believe they said 400K vehicles per year at full operation. Coming online in 2024 but who knows when it will hit full production.

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