Rivian rockets past GM to become 2nd most valuable US carmaker

Friday, 12 November 2021

Rivian Automotive, a company that has delivered about 150 electric pickup trucks mostly to employees, has surpassed General Motors to become the USA’s second most valuable automaker.

The California company's market valuation exceeded Ford's in its first day as a public company Wednesday. Its shares rose 10 per cent at the opening bell Thursday pushing its valuation over US$90 billion. That's greater than Detroit's GM, one of the biggest auto manufacturers in the world, which sold more than 6.8 million vehicles globally last year.

Rivian's goal this year is to produce 1,000 electric vehicles. The company rolled out its first vehicle, the R1T electric truck, in September and plans to launch its electric SUV, the R1S, in December.

Rivian Automotive hopes to produce 1,000 electric vehicles by the end of the year, and has surpassed General Motors to become the USA’s second most valuable automaker.

Ford is one of Rivian’s high-profile backers, having invested a half-billion dollars into the company in 2019. The other is Amazon, which held a 20 per cent stake in Rivian ahead of the initial public offering.

**READ MORE:

Check out the Rivian R1T as it is put through its paces in real-world testing.

* Rivian soars above US$98 billion value in Wall Street debut, zipping past Ford and GM

* First customer Rivian electric pick up rolls off the line

* Rivian files for IPO, seeking about US$80 billion valuation

* Rivian gets serious with possible US$5 billion Texas plant

Rather than focusing on the number of vehicles it has sold, investors are anticipating vast potential for Rivian with the appetite growing for electric vehicles. And Rivian's soaring stock price pulled almost all companies in the EV sector higher Thursday.

Lordstown Motors Corp. jumped 11 per cent, Nikola Corp. 3 per cent, Fisker Inc. more than 8 per cent and China's Nio Inc. rose 4 per cent.

Shares of Tesla, the world leader in electric vehicle sales, were up less than 1 per cent Thursday. After making a promise on Twitter, Tesla CEO Elon Musk sold about 4.5 million shares of the electric carmaker’s stock for more than US$5 billion, according to regulatory filings late Wednesday.

Tesla has amassed a market value of more than US$1 trillion. So far this year it has sold around 627,300 vehicles.