After setting 50K EV production goal, Rivian ups the ante internally

EV maker Rivian (RIVN) released fourth-quarter earnings this week, and despite proclaiming it was aiming to produce 50,000 vehicles this year, it may believe it can do better. The company is reportedly raising the bar with a new internal EV production goal.

Rivian bumps up 2023 EV production goal internally

After releasing Q4 and full-year 2022 earnings results Tuesday, Rivian ($RIVN) stock hit a new 52-week low this week as disappointments arose from missing production guidance.

On the company’s earnings call that followed, Claire McDonough, Rivian’s CFO, said, “We are guiding to 50,000 vehicles produced this year,” which would be more than double the 24,337 produced in 2022.

Wall Street was looking for Rivian to announce EV production guidance in the 60,000 to 65,000 range. However, as we said in our earnings coverage, the company stuck to a modest goal as it accounted for supply chain risks and uncertainties.

According to a new report from Bloomberg, Rivian has told its employees the young EV maker can produce more vehicles this year. Sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Rivian executives said the production of 62,000 electric vehicles is possible this year at a strategic meeting on Friday.

The internal number aligns directly with what Wall Street expected them to announce during earnings earlier this week. Meanwhile, a spokeswoman from Rivian told Bloomberg, “We already gave our production guidance on Tuesday during our earnings call,” and that the new number was discussed internally.

Rivian says it will ramp its second shift to boost production of the R1T and R1S at its Normal, Illinois, manufacturing facility as it progresses through the quarter.

Electrek’s Take

Was Rivian holding back on its earnings guidance? It could be. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book to beat expectations.

At the same time, Rivian had to have known what Wall Street was looking for, and if that was the case, why would they let the stock price tank?

Although 50,000 guidance wasn’t terrible, to begin with, 62,000 is more aligned with investor expectations. If that is the case, Rivian will build around 1,000 more vehicles per month than the initial guidance suggested.