Rivian Falls Short Of 2022 Production Target

Electric vehicle maker Rivian has announced that it has failed to meet production targets for 2022. The company initially aimed to produce a combined total of 25,000 vehicles last year but fell just short of that figure, with the final figure totaling 24,337.

This is the aggregate figure for theR1SSUV, R1T truck, and EDV delivery van. Rivian initially hoped to build 50,000 vehicles last year butwas forced to slash that target in halfdue to industry issues like the chip crisis and supply chain issues. At the time, CEO RJ Scaringecritiqued parts suppliers for playing favoriteswith more established automobile brands.

A great majority of these vehicles were produced in the fourth quarter of 2022 when the company built 10,020 units. This was achieved by adding an additional production shift and remedying supply chain woes.

Rivian does not report individual production or delivery figures, but the company says it delivered 8,054 vehicles in Q4 2022 and a total of 20,332 vehicles last year.

Strong demand for Rivian products has placed the automaker somewhat in a quandary. Duringthe third-quarter earnings call, the automaker said it had around 114,000 preorders for the R1T and R1S duo, and still had to contend with a backlog of 100,000 EDV vans to deliver to Amazon.

Despite facing numerous setbacks this year, Scaringe was full of praise. "There were many headwinds in 2022 ... the supply chain issues that caused the plant to close for 20 days and shut down early on 50 days in the last 12 months - and the inclement weather that forced us to close for an additional 5 days - our team stayed focused and worked through the challenges together," said the CEO in a letter to employees.