Principal at Alpine Equity Fund | Making strategic investment decisions in public and private equities.
This is a huge moment for Rivian, reaching above the 100,000 units mark for R2 pre-orders. I figure this represents a minimum of $5B in gross revenue when fulfilled. The pre-orders are growing organically well above the current confirmed figures in place, plus they are selling the Gen 2 R1T and Gen 2 R1S, with some incredible upgrades and efficiencies that are nothing short of mind bending. Rivian electric motors are now made fully in-house in the USA as the Company moves closer to vertical integration, part of its plan. In its inaugural year, Rivian sourced electric motors from Germany's Bausch. I suspect the shorter wheel base R3 line with the more formidable triple motor top dog R3X will hit double to triple this quantity in immediate pent up demand once their $5B Georgia plant is online and Rivian opens up pre-orders for the R3 line! Kudos to RJ Scaringe and the entire Rivian team. These figures are domestic only. It will be interesting when folks in Germany and abroad can buy this brand. Very few analysts cover this segment well beyond Dan Ives and a few other exceptions to the rule. The main reason is auto industry analysts are often covering the 20th century definition of the Auto Industry, yet they do so in 2024., as though time stood still. Truth be told, there are two types of OEMs. One sees itself producing a commodity, a hardware device with a vast supply chain. The other ( i.e. Tesla and Rivian) are technology companies first, driven by sophisticated software and AI models that make the EV itself probably your most powerful computational device unless your a data scientist. To close, I own a Rivian EV R1T and am blown away at its road and off road capabilities plus it's lux fit and finish. All this is from a true auto enthusiast, meaning RJ and team studied this market intensely and are now delivering. Rivian is dialed in..... Cheers!
