Written by Cláudio Afonso | Info@claudio-afonso.com | LinkedIn | X
Rivian reported on Tuesday its financial results from the first quarter of 2024 posting wider than expected losses and reiterating its annual production guidance of 57,000 vehicles.
During the conference call, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas asked Rivian’s CEO RJ Scaringe regarding a DigiTimes report suggesting Apple’s interest in collaborating with a US EV startup, with Rivian being singled out as a “very likely candidate”.
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Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas asked, “I’m going to assume you’re not going to comment on the widespread story today of a large maker of phones, potentially collaborating with an electric vehicle startup, unless you want to. But what would, what would be in it for a player of that ilks work with you or let me put it this way, what would be worthwhile to Rivian to benefit from a player like that, that Amazon doesn’t already strategically and technically provide support to you already?”
The chief executive said Rivian “doesn’t comment on market rumors” adding later that the company’s in-vehicle technology gives the automaker “a lot of customer facing strength” while it creates “opportunities for partnership certainly”.
“Thanks, Adam. Yeah, we don’t comment on market rumors or speculation. But as you alluded to, we have, we have a history of partnership and of course, Amazon who is our largest shareholder today and a very close partner across a variety of avenues has been really a foundational element of the business. They were quarter launching the commercial arm of the business and today represent the vast, vast majority of our commercial vehicle sales,” RJ Scaringe said.
“But as we think about what we’ve built as a company, one of the core elements that makes this unique is just the level of vertical integration around our software and associated electronics platforms. So the ECUs in the vehicle and the essentially the various computers across the vehicle and then the base software, the base operating system all the way up to the applications layer, creating those ourselves without the need to rely on Tier 1 suppliers gives us a lot of — gives us a lot of customer facing strength, but also creates opportunities for partnership certainly,” he added.
Earlier this year, Apple scrapped its plans to launch an autonomous electric vehicle after more than a decade of development and a $10 billion investment, deeming the project unfeasible. However, the story might still have a new chapter.
Rivian received lsat week a $827M incentive package from the State of Illinois allowing the expansion of its plant in Normal.
Volvo Cars announced on Thursday that its Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Deputy CEO, Javier Varela was leaving the company with immediate effect. One day later, Rivian announced that Varela is joining as COO starting from August.
Varela succeeds Frank Klein as to oversee operations including procurement, manufacturing, logistics and quality as Rivian continues to optimise “operational efficiencies, including the production of R2”.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | Info@claudio-afonso.com | LinkedIn | X
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