Rivian Stock Is Flying After EV Maker Unveils Its R2 and R3 Models
Rivian Automotive stock was surging after the company introduced its new vehicle platform on Thursday.
3 min
Rivian Automotive stock was surging after the company introduced its new vehicle platform on Thursday.
Investors knew the car was coming, but the electric vehicle start-up sprinkled a couple of extra surprises in its presentation to the delight of its shareholders.
As its name suggests, R2—unveiled Thursday afternoon—is Rivian’s second vehicle platform. It’s a lower-cost product that should enable the company to widen its addressable market with a cheaper price tag. The R2 will start at around $45,000, and is slated to hit the streets in 2026.
The timing was the first surprise. CEO R.J. Scaringe said the car will ship in the first half of 2026. That brings some certainty for investors and, of course, the sooner the better.
“I’m so excited about this vehicle,” said Scaringe. “I’m so excited about what it represents for us as a company in terms of achieving scale.”
Rivian’s first platform, R1, is the base for the R1T pickup truck and R1S SUV. Those two vehicles start at around $75,000.
The R2 SUV shown at the event has Rivian’s trademark look. The vehicle—which could be called the R2S if Rivian sticks with its first platform’s naming conventions—is a smaller version of the R1S. The wheelbase is a little shorter than that of the R1S.
The R2’s per-charge range will exceed 300 miles and there will be a tri-motor version that goes from zero to 60 miles an hour in about three seconds.
The second surprise was another vehicle—the R3 and sportier trim called the R3X. It’s another vehicle that will be built on the platform. Pricing and timing for the R3 weren’t part of Scaringe’s prepared remarks. Rivian didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rivian shares were up 13.8% in late trading at $12.55, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were up about 0.9% and 1.4%, respectively.
The stock had gotten a lift even before the R2 launch event, which started around 1 p.m. ET Thursday, thanks to a new call to buy the shares on Wall Street.
Earlier Thursday, Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois launched coverage of Rivian with a Buy rating and a $16 price target.
“Rivian has looked closest to Tesla in spirit, with its own software stack, strong brand identity, global potential, and similar growth pain,” wrote the analyst.
(Product launch events weren’t what Houchois was referring to, looked a little like a Tesla product launch event run by Elon Musk.)
The cost of the new platform will be key, the analyst said.
Rivian “is facing two critical if not existential tests this year: (1) deliver a $35,000-to-$40,000 reduction in unit production costs from redesign, purchasing, and manufacturing efficiency; and (2) demonstrate the R2 model can be developed at a significantly lower cost than R1,” wrote Houchois in his coverage launch report.
The new vehicle and Buy rating should come as a relief for investors. Coming into Thursday trading, Rivian stock was down about 53% so far in 2023. Slowing demand growth for EVs, along with disappointing production guidance from Rivian, has pushed down shares.
Rivian expects to produce about 57,000 units in 2024, roughly the same amount produced in 2023. But Houchois sees a silver lining there.
“Slower EV demand and planned second-quarter [plant] shutdowns will constrain growth this year but could also help deliver the sharp $20,000 reduction in unit costs to achieve positive gross margin exiting 2024,” wrote Houchois.
Rivian hasn’t achieved the scale required yet to generate positive profits and cash flow. It delivered about 50,000 unit to customers in 2023. Tesla wasn’t producing consistent profits until it was delivering roughly four times that amount.
Wall Street expects Rivian to use about $4.3 billion in cash in 2024. It ended 2023 with about $9.4 billion in cash, and $10.5 billion in total liquidity.
Overall, 55% of analysts covering Rivian stock have Buy ratings, according to FactSet. The average Buy-rating ratio for stocks in the S&P 500 is about 55%. The average analyst price target for Rivian stock is about $17.
Copyright 2020, Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. LEARN MORE
From elevated skincare to handcrafted home pieces, this year’s most thoughtful gifts go beyond the expected.
A haven for hedge-fund titans and Hollywood grandees, Greenwich is one of the world’s most expensive residential enclaves, where eye-watering prices meet unapologetic grandeur.
The lunar flyby would be the deepest humans have traveled in space in decades.
4 min
It’s go time for the highest-stakes mission at NASA in more than 50 years.
On April 1, the agency is set to launch four astronauts around the moon, the deepest human spaceflight since the final Apollo lunar landing in 1972.
The launch window for Artemis II , as the mission is called, opens at 6:24 p.m. ET.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration teams have been preparing the vehicles to depart from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on the planned roughly 10-day trip. Crew members have trained for years for this moment.
Reid Wiseman, the NASA astronaut serving as mission commander, said he doesn’t fear taking the voyage. A widower, he does worry at times about what he is putting his daughters through.
“I could have a very comfortable life for them,” Wiseman said in an interview last September.
“But I’m also a human, and I see the spirit in their eyes that is burning in my soul too. And so we’ve just got to never stop going.”
Wiseman’s crewmates on Artemis II are NASA’s Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
What are the goals for Artemis II?
The biggest one: Safely fly the crew on vehicles that have never carried astronauts before.
The towering Space Launch System rocket has the job of lofting a vehicle called Orion into space and on its way to the moon.
Orion is designed to carry the crew around the moon and back. Myriad systems on the ship—life support, communications, navigation—will be tested with the astronauts on board.
SLS and Orion don’t have much flight experience. The vehicles last flew in 2022, when the agency completed its uncrewed Artemis I mission .
How is the mission expected to unfold?
Artemis II will begin when SLS takes off from a launchpad in Florida with Orion stacked on top of it.
The so-called upper stage of SLS will later separate from the main part of the rocket with Orion attached, and use its engine to set up the latter vehicle for a push to the moon.
After Orion separates from the upper stage, it will conduct what is called a translunar injection—the engine firing that commits Orion to soaring out to the moon. It will fly to the moon over the course of a few days and travel around its far side.
Orion will face a tough return home after speeding through space. As it hits Earth’s atmosphere, Orion will be flying at 25,000 miles an hour and face temperatures of 5,000 degrees as it slows down. The capsule is designed to land under parachutes in the Pacific Ocean, not far from San Diego.
Is it possible Artemis II will be delayed?
Yes.
For safety reasons, the agency won’t launch if certain tough weather conditions roll through the Cape Canaveral, Fla., area. Delays caused by technical problems are possible, too. NASA has other dates identified for the mission if it doesn’t begin April 1.
Who are the astronauts flying on Artemis II?
The crew will be led by Wiseman, a retired Navy pilot who completed military deployments before joining NASA’s astronaut corps. He traveled to the International Space Station in 2014.
Two other astronauts will represent NASA during the mission: Glover, an experienced Navy pilot, and Koch, who began her career as an electrical engineer for the agency and once spent a year at a research station in the South Pole. Both have traveled to the space station before.
Hansen is a military pilot who joined Canada’s astronaut corps in 2009. He will be making his first trip to space.
Koch’s participation in Artemis II will mark the first time a woman has flown beyond orbits near Earth. Glover and Hansen will be the first African-American and non-American astronauts, respectively, to do the same.
What will the astronauts do during the flight?
The astronauts will evaluate how Orion flies, practice emergency procedures and capture images of the far side of the moon for scientific and exploration purposes (they may become the first humans to see parts of the far side of the lunar surface). Health-tracking projects of the astronauts are designed to inform future missions.
Those efforts will play out in Orion’s crew module, which has about two minivans worth of living area.
On board, the astronauts will spend about 30 minutes a day exercising, using a device that allows them to do dead lifts, rowing and more. Sleep will come in eight-hour stretches in hammocks.
There is a custom-made warmer for meals, with beef brisket and veggie quiche on the menu.
Each astronaut is permitted two flavored beverages a day, including coffee. The crew will hold one hourlong shared meal each day.
The Universal Waste Management System—that’s the toilet—uses air flow to pull fluid and solid waste away into containers.
What happens after Artemis II?
Assuming it goes well, NASA will march on to Artemis III, scheduled for next year. During that operation, NASA plans to launch Orion with crew members on board and have the ship practice docking with lunar-lander vehicles that Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin have been developing. The rendezvous operations will occur relatively close to Earth.
NASA hopes that its contractors and the agency itself are ready to attempt one or more lunar landing missions in 2028. Many current and former spaceflight officials are skeptical that timeline is feasible.
From Tokyo backstreets to quiet coastal towns and off-grid cabins, top executives reveal where they holiday and why stepping away makes the grind worthwhile.
As the season turns, Handpicked Wines’ latest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay releases reveal how subtle shifts in place shape what ends up in the glass.
