Quote:
Originally Posted by M3WC
If it is 5+ years they will not survive without outside investment. The Normal factory can only sustain 150k unit capacity. R1 capacity is currently at 65k, that only leaves 85k capacity for R2 for 5 years. They need to sell R2 by the multiple 100k units per year minimum. Georgia factory was to produce 200k units out of the gate, with 400k capacity soon after. The R2 will not save the company, the Georgia factory will. Scaling/volume is the number one issue for these EV startups.
They lost $40k per R1 in Q4 2023. With profit margin improvements said to be coming for R1 production line by end of 2024. The R2 sure looked as premium as the R1, not much decontenting. The margins will be even tighter at lower price point. Volume is the only answer.
Producing the R2 in Normal just seemed like a decision they were forced into, they tried to spin it as positive.
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You're missing one other big thing. Demand. They might need to sell 200k R2s a year, but reality is, the market probably won't support that. Tesla will dramatically undercut them on price, has its own charging network, and you can have your new Tesla in a couple weeks, vs who knows when with the Rivian.
Rivian is doomed. Lucid is also doomed. The legacy automakers can't hardly sell these EVs, and they know how to build cars. Volume EVs aren't sold to be "nice" cars, they're sold to be cheap to operate, meaning the huge price advantage Tesla has is going to be nearly impossible to overcome. And if R2 is nearly the price of a Model Y, Tesla will just cut the price by another 5-10k lol.