Rivian-Stay adventurous

Rivian is an American corporation that focuses on electric vehicle manufacturing and providing automotive technology solutions. Rivian was founded by Robert RJ Scaringe in 2009 out of Irvine, California.Originally called Mainstream Motors, they changed their name to Avera and finally RIvian Automotive.Initially, they intended to create an upmarket sports car which was later shelved due to bad consumer response.They then shifted their focus to electric and autonomous vehicles specifically for developing countries.Following this, they received a large investment and acquired a Mitsubishi motors manufacturing plant in Normal, Illionis. After debuting their first concept cars in the Los Angeles Auto Show, they went public on November 10th, 2021 with an initial offering price of 78$ selling 153 million shares raising 12B $.

Rivian is currently trading at 35-40$ with a market cap of 33B $.Despite having gone public and being valued as one of the largest automobile manufacturer, the company has no revenue which has significantly hurt the company’s stock as well.Originally, the company was to start commercial production in 2020 producing 100,000 cars annually at their plant at Illinois but owing to the supply chain issues and the global pandemic, this schedule was pushed back to 2023.With already 125,000 bookings, the clock is ticking and it is essential for Rivian to meet the orders.

Rivian has a median price forecast of 84$ with a high estimate of 140$ and a low estimate of 40$. The median represents a 120$ increase from the last trading price. Rivian is extremely volatile with mixed feedback amongst investors.Many remain sceptical towards the legitimacy of the company and the feasibility of the delivery schedule for the cars while others term it a high rewards company with both short term and long term gains as the world switches to electric.

Rivian is still a relatively new company with a lot of investments just on the basis of the organisational goals which are manufacturing Sport Utility and pickup electric vehicles and developing electric vehicle systems and components.Investors are highly optimistic but their optimism seems to be running out.With supply chain problems and chip shortages , Rivian raised their vehicle R1T prices by 20,000$ which made more than 25,000 people pulling back their deposits creating a big capital pull from the company.The trade war is also playing against the company as key components for its powertrain and the raw materials come from China.They have also been facing heavy competition from Tesla as they patent the new inductive battery technology.Despite all these issues, there still lies a space in the electric vehicle market which Rivian holds an advantage that is the SUV and the pickup truck market which nobody has tried to enter so far.They have also been an early entrant in the electric truck market with support from Amazon who pledged to order more than 500,000 delivery trucks back in 2016 when they infused more than 1.3B $ into the company for R&D for the new platform.Another major supporter for the silicon valley startup has been Ford which despite being a competing brand bought 25% of Rivian back in 2016 to collaborate to further development of the electric ford f150 which accounts for about 68% of Ford’s revenue.Despite all the scepticism around Rivian, it is clear that the future for automobiles is electric and Rivian’s focus in a particular market acts as a game changer giving them an edge over their competitors.