Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN) CEO RJ Scaringe met with CNBC’s Phil LeBeau at the company’s plant in Illinois for a “Squawk Box” interview one day after the electric automaker reported a “smaller than expected” 1Q earnings loss.
The company reported 1Q EPS of ($1.25), coming in ahead of ($1.61) estimates. The company also reported 1Q revenue of $661 million, ahead of estimates of $655.51M ad the automaker continues to work towards profitability.
Scaringe highlighted that Rivian is continuously working towards ramping production and driving costs down as their core focus for the business. Even as the automaker continues to battle with supply chain challenges.
“Last year the supply chain was a real challenge” said Scaringe. “Now we really understand all of our constraints. Power semi-conductors is still our biggest constraint.”
Rivian just recently launched its Enduro drive unit, which the company will utilize in their transit vans. The Enduro unit utilizes a different type of semi-conductors, allowing the company to diversify its supply and mitigate its constraints while continuing its ramp in production into the back half of the year.
Rivian is currently working to fulfill a 100,000 electric van order made by Rivian backer, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). Rivian is currently in an exclusive relationship with Amazon. However, in the interview Scaringe mentioned Rivian’s desire to expand to customers beyond Amazon.
“The relationship is still exclusive, but we are looking at how we can expand to customers beyond amazon,” said Scaringe. “We are working closely with amazon, both on the exclusivity, but also with other potential customers to get them lined up for vans.”
“Down the road there may be other partners?” asked LeBeau.
“Absolutely.” Scaringe answered.
Shares of RIVN are up 8.32% in pre-market trading on Wednesday.