All without delivering a single retail car.
100% they should have delivered something by now.
Billions, yet vapor.
Life in times of the cool-aide.
What you should take away is that there is money to throw around. A lot of fucking money.
Which is not going into our pockets as employees, but easily given to those in the know, even with a huge chance of everything going to vapor.
Remember that, next time you ask for a raise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJJNTVy62PU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LGtskt4YGA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzRDuLo3K6Q
Deliveries of the R1T should start in September after being delayed:
https://www.thedrive.com/news/41578/rivian-r1t-deliveries-ar...
A a few months ago it was "deliveries will begin in June". Then it was July. Then August, and now September. I'm sure they'll get there, but I wouldn't hold my breath while waiting.
When its a big deal that one of them is seen in a city, I feel like that says something.
Its to be expected, though, as the car business requires a lot of capital.
Edit: founded in 2003-4, roadster came out in 2008
They managed to get a product out quickly. Rivian did not.
I'm not sure that this was actually better than the Rivian scenario, since Rivian actually has a van, truck, and a large SUV in the early stages of production during their first year. Its a pretty ambitious move, tbh.
Of course, Rivian has the advantage of being a second mover. Tesla had to work a lot harder to get the batteries sorted out back in 2007.
Which is not going into our pockets as employees.
Remember that, next time you ask for a raise.
And thus it's a bad business by definition, which doesn't merit billions of capital investments.
Even if the investment thesis is that the whole world is rooting for them, and government will turn lots of blind eyes because of the "green mission", and they'd be first in line ESG funds allocation of capital...
Still all those elements don't propel you to SaaS type margins such as Google or Microsoft or Facebook.
Frothy valuations for companies which are building stuff in the real world are driven by the promotional power of said stuff and the CEO marketing ability, in fact people are fascinated by cars, it looks cool and it's out there in front of you.
Its not an investment that I'd want to make. I'm glad that folks are trying anyway, though. I love cars and love the products, but I can't rationalize it as a great business to invest in.