Rivian, a maker of electric trucks, said Tuesday that it lost $1.7 billion in the final three months of last year due to production difficulties.
The loss brings the company’s total losses for 2022 to $6.8 billion and highlights the trouble once-promising startups are having in gaining ground on Tesla, which dominates the electric vehicle business. Last week, another young automaker, Lucid Motors, said it lost $2.6 billion in 2022.
Rivian said the supply chain woes that dogged her last year will continue this year, but will be easier to anticipate. The company said it expected to produce 50,000 vehicles this year, about twice as many as in 2022.
In a conference call, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said the company was working to cut costs, especially now that Tesla had cut prices for its cars by as much as 20 percent. Cutting costs “is our main challenge today,” Scaringe said.
He added that demand remained “robust,” noting that the company had an order backlog that it expected to last until 2024.
Rivian generated $663 million in revenue and delivered 8,054 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2022. In a full year, it had revenue of $1.7 billion and delivered 20,332 vehicles in 2022. It produced 24,337 vehicles last year, just below his reduced goal of 25,000.
The company said it had $11.6 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of December, up from $18.1 billion a year earlier.
Irvine, California-based Rivian makes an electric pickup truck, sport utility vehicle and delivery van. The venture has attracted a number of wealthy investors, including Amazon, which has placed a large order for vans from the manufacturer. Ford Motor also invested in the company, but ultimately decided not to collaborate with Rivian and sold most of its shares.
The company’s inability to rapidly ramp up production at its Normal, Ill., plant has limited sales and its share price has plummeted. On Tuesday, it was trading around $19, down from $47 a year earlier. The company’s share price was about 8 percent lower in extended trading after the release of its earnings report.
Rivian said it expected to report a loss of $4.3 billion in 2023 before factoring in interest, taxes and other expenses.