(Reuters) – Rivian (NASDAQ:) Automotive maintained its production forecast for the year on Tuesday and said it lost more per electric car delivered than analysts had expected.
Rivian introduced offers on leases to boost sales, which helped the EV maker beat revenue estimates after it cleared some of its inventory.
The company halted production in the second quarter to implement efficiency-boosting assembly line upgrades, which it expects to help post its first profit margin in the last three months of the year.
The company, which is still losing thousands of dollars for every vehicle it makes, has seen its order backlog fall in the recent quarters as deliveries increased and some customers canceled their reservations.
Rivian said its loss amounted to 39% of a vehicle’s sales price, greater than the LSEG estimates of 34%.
Revenue for the quarter ended June 30 stood at $1.16 billion, compared with analysts’ estimate of $1.14 billion.
EV startups, including Rivian and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund-backed Lucid (NASDAQ:), have been bleeding cash as they struggle to balance escalating costs related to scaling production with the need to compete against industry leader Tesla (NASDAQ:) and other automakers Ford (NYSE:) and General Motors (NYSE:).
The company said its cash and cash equivalents were $5.76 billion as of June 30, compared with $7.86 billion at 2023-end.
Still, investors said Volkswagen (ETR:) Group’s $5 billion investment in Rivian as part of a new joint venture to share expertise in EV architecture and software development could help sustain the U.S. EV maker’s cash balance till it starts selling its R2 mid-size SUVs unveiled earlier this year.
Rivian posted a net loss of $1.46 billion in the second quarter, wider than the $1.2 billion loss a year earlier.
