Rivian Plans To Make Up To 155,000 R2 SUVs Yearly In Illinois

Rivian plans to make as much as 155,000 R2 SUVs yearly at its plant in Regular, Illinois, the electrical car startup mentioned on Tuesday. It exhibits simply how a lot Rivian expects the upcoming mannequin to juice its gross sales and addressable market. 

In its first-quarter earnings report on Tuesday, the EV maker mentioned that upcoming upgrades to its Illinois manufacturing unit would yield a complete manufacturing capability of 215,000 items. That would come with each the long run R2 and its present steady of merchandise: the R1T pickup truck, the R1S SUV and the business supply van that counts Amazon amongst its business clients. 

The R2, revealed in March, is totally key to Rivian’s future. The roughly $45,000 crossover SUV hits proper on the candy spot of America’s automobile market and takes direct purpose at Tesla’s well-liked Mannequin Y. It ought to appeal to much more patrons than the comparatively costly R1 collection ever might. That is necessary for Rivian’s long-term monetary well being. 

To place issues into perspective, Rivian made proper round 57,000 autos final yr. It is planning on doing the identical this yr. It looks like manufacturing will not enhance meaningfully till R2 manufacturing is in full swing. Then, Rivian expects gross sales to take off, just about completely on the again of the R2. 

Nonetheless, Rivian may have some flexibility in the way it achieves that 215,000 items of manufacturing, defined firm CFO Claire McDonough. The plant will likely be set as much as produce a most of 85,000 R1 autos, a most of 65,000 business vans and the aforementioned 155,000 R2s, she mentioned. So the corporate will be capable of flex manufacturing capability on varied manufacturing traces to fulfill demand. 

Within the U.S. the one electrical autos with greater than 155,000 annual gross sales are the Tesla Mannequin Y and Mannequin 3, as famous by BloombergNEF EV analyst Corey Cantor on social media. However bear in mind, the R2 is destined for world markets. So Rivian could very nicely pull off these sorts of numbers.

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