While Tesla announced it topped vehicle deliveries in a record quarter for the company, some EV competitors aren’t having as much fun. EV prices are being slashed as macroeconomic factors put pressure on the profitability of automakers in the space. Ford announced last month that it made a loss of $2.1bn in 2022 in its electric vehicle unit, but made it for the loss with non-EV units. As a full fledged EV manufacturer however, Rivian has a full stake in the industry and is perhaps a better indicator of its health. Let’s take a look.

In its first quarter this year, Rivian stated that it manufactured roughly 9.4k vehicles, which marked a 6% drop from the quarter prior, which analysts have described as disappointing. Its deliveries had suffered a 1% decline from its last quarter. In part, the downturn has been caused by disruptions to its supply chain as the company seeks to adopt new battery technologies for its vehicles.

Despite the dip however, the American company led by CEO RJ Scarringe, has reaffirmed its production target for the year of 50k vehicles. So far, RIVN appears to have made it through the report mostly unscathed – still logging a 10% gain over the past week.

As it stands, many EV companies are spending large amounts of cash in order to establish the production capability to become profitable. Even in the case of Tesla which posted a record quarter for production, growth in sales is struggling to impress due to inflation weighing on consumer spending habits. Investment in EV battery plants is also likely to continue to grow, and vehicle price cuts, first initiated by Tesla, could also continue to be mirrored in other companies across the space – as they have been with Ford’s EV unit.