By Ben Klayman
DETROIT: Rivian Automotive is “making progress” in the increase of production of electric vehicles at its Normal, Illinois, assembly plant and is aiming to take 10% share in the EV market by 2030, Chief Executive R.J. Scaringe said on Thursday.
“We’re absolutely making progress,” he said during a Wolfe Research conference of the push to increase vehicle production. “The plant is starting to ramp nicely.”
Rivian shares closed up 10.7%.
Scaringe, responding to a question about how big Rivian could become by 2030, said the company had the brand position “to build out a portfolio … to allow us to really work toward building a position of 10% market share within the EV space.”
He called the global semiconductor chip shortage the “most painful” constraint in the push to build production. The California-based startup produced 1,015 vehicles last year, coming up short of its target of 1,200 due to supply-chain constraints.
Rivian’s stock slumped after it outlined during its first quarterly earnings report as a public company its struggles with the manufacturing of its R1T pickup and R1S SUV. It also has a contract to build 100,000 electric delivery vans by 2025 for Amazon.com, which has a 20% stake in Rivian.
Back in December, Scaringe pegged production challenges to global supply-chain constraints, the COVID-19 pandemic, a tight labor market and short-term issues around building electric battery modules.
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