Rivian IPO: 5 things to know about the Amazon-backed electric-vehicle maker

RV_ · October 19, 2021

With my recent health scare now almost recovered and will do 100% I lost track of Rivian's IPO which is now official and public as far as filing. We will know how much when they IPO.

Today I caught up watching videos of it off road and on and Motor Trend as well as Car and Driver videos and reviews. It has four motors and does 0-60 in three seconds, towing capacity of 11k pounds, and amazing off road capabilities.

I may buy one instead of the Cybertruck. We'll see after I test drive one. I'll provide links in another post below to some reviews and videos.

But this is about their upcoming IPO and it is deja vu all over again as Yogi once said. THey beat Tesla to market with a great truck that is not extra for AWD, adjustable suspension, Driver+ like Tesla Autopilot not FSD, etc.

Excerpt:

"Provided by Dow Jones

Oct 13, 2021 7:04 PM MDT

Claudia Assis

Rivian to rival Tesla, others as it explores the 'adventure' niche

Electric-vehicle maker Rivian Automotive Inc. is set to become a public company, hoping to carve a niche for itself offering EVs for the great outdoors.

Rivian filed for a confidential IPO in August and publicly submitted the paperwork with security regulators last week. The company is seeking to sell $100 million worth of shares, although that's often a placeholder used to calculate fees.

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Ford Motor Co. (F) are among Rivian's backers. The EV maker has raised $10.5 billion since 2019 after several investment rounds, with the latest a $2.5 billion funding round in July, led by Amazon.com's Climate Pledge Fund, Ford, and T. Rowe Price funds, among others.

Besides an electric pickup truck and an electric SUV, Rivian also plans to make electric delivery vans for Amazon and have its own charging network. Its IPO comes after several EV startups have gone public, and as the market is about to welcome several electric pickup trucks and SUVs.

Here are five things to know about Rivian:

Its CEO is 'obsessed' with cars and at first wanted to develop a sports car

Founder and Chief Executive Robert "RJ" Scaringe has been "obsessed with cars" since his younger years growing up in Florida, he said in the IPO prospectus

He decided to found Rivian, however, when he realized that the object of his love was "the source of many of society's biggest environmental challenges," he said.

He started from scratch, with "no money, no team, no technology, no suppliers, no brand, no production infrastructure," Scaringe said. The first thought was to build an "efficient sports car," but that didn't feel right, he said.

See also:Chasing Tesla: Here are the current electric vehicle plans of every major car maker

Tesla Inc. (TSLA) famously started off making an expensive and exclusive electric sports car and used the money (and buzz) to develop cheaper EV sedans and eventually branch out to other auto-body styles and prices.

By 2012, however, Rivian had moved away from the sports-car idea and soon began focusing on electric SUVs and pickup trucks, aiming to "establish Rivian as the brand for active lifestyles," Scaringe said.

Its program with Amazon.com delivery vans "serves as our flagship application for the commercial space and positions us to pursue a range of other sizes, use cases, and markets," he said.

Scaringe has kept a low profile on Twitter, keeping his tweets strictly limited to his EV business.

Like a famous competitor, Rivian also wants to skip dealership sales

Rivian launched its R1T, a two-row, five-seat pickup truck, in September. It plans to launch an SUV, the R1S, in December. Wider sales of the truck and the SUV are expected to begin in December and January.

The company calls the flagship autos "electric adventure vehicles" equally capable of "rock crawling" and of leaving sports cars in the rearview mirror.

Like Tesla, Rivian is selling its vehicles directly to consumers, skipping dealership networks, and asking for a refundable deposit when people configure their vehicle on its website.

Related: How auto makers like Ford and GM are reimagining the future of car buying

The pickup truck starts at $67,500 for a basic trim and can go 314 miles between charges.

Rivian is promising a R1T with a range of more than 400 miles by January. Add-ons for the truck include a camping kitchen that slides out the truck's side and a camping tent.

The SUV starts at $70,000 and Rivian is making five- and a seven-seat models, with a camping tent as one of its add-ons. Rivian said it had 48,390 R1T and R1S preorders in the U.S. and Canada as of September.

Rivian also said it plans to deliver 100,000 electric "last mile" vans to Amazon by 2025.

Losses have mounted as the business grows

Perhaps not surprisingly, Rivian has never made money, and doesn't expect to turn a profit in the "foreseeable future" as it invests in its business.

Rivian lost $426 million, or $4.35 a share, in 2019, and went on to lose $1 billion, or $10.09 a share, last year. For the first six months of this year, Rivian lost $994 million, or $9.84 a share. That compares with a loss of $3.77 a share in the first six months of 2020.

Also not surprisingly, it has been spending most of its money on research and development, with R&D expenses rising to $683 million in the first six months of this year.

Total operating expenses, including R&D as well as general expenses, reached $990 million in that time span, up from $381 million in the year-ago period."

Much more in the article here:

https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/202110131159/rivian-ipo-5-things-to-know-about-the-amazon-backed-electric-vehicle-maker

RV_ · October 19, 2021

Here are some reviews and videos and their website link:

Videro: Rivian R1T Off-Road Testing - Rock Crawling, Drifts & High-Speed:

Amazon and Ford-backed Rivian battles losses to launch major IPO for EV industry:

https://www.msn.com/en-in/money/markets/amazon-and-ford-backed-rivian-battles-losses-to-launch-major-ipo-for-ev-industry/ar-AAPEMr8?ocid=uxbndlbing

The Rivian website where I signed up for a test drive when available:

https://rivian.com/connect/tell-us-more

Car And Driver article with pic and specs:

https://www.caranddriver.com/rivian/r1t

One minute video tour:

Rivian R1T vs Ford F-150 Lightning: Comparison

Scroll under that last video for many more videos about the Rivian R1T. It rock climbs stock and does the road smooth as silk!

Edited October 19, 2021 by RV_

RV_ · October 19, 2021

A year ago a crew drove and filmed two Rivian prototypes from Patagonia (the southernmost tip of South America) to L.A. That crew reunites today to drive the more refined production Rivian R1T and comments with a few flashbacks to their South American trip in that EV.

Edited October 19, 2021 by RV_