Rivian is an electric vehicle startup that builds the R1T pickup truck and the R1S SUV. It’s rise to fame was contributed by high profile backers like Amazon and Ford as well as its blockbuster IPO.

When Rivian first got on the Nasdaq stock exchange, its value briefly topped $100bn with shares selling at at £75.19 ($100.73), this effectively got the startup valued higher than Volkswagen – the parent company of Audi, Porsche among others. The startup hasn’t been able to maintain its boom however, its shares closed at £21.68 ($26.70) on Friday last week.

That same week, a filing revealed that Ford made £154m ($188.2m) selling seven million shares in Rivian on Friday. Just days earlier, Ford had sold a further £175m ($214m) worth of shares. That week alone, Ford had recouped close to £330m from Rivian shares but still holds 86.9 million shares. 

The downward trend of Rivian has been caused by many factors including ongoing supply chain issues that forced the company to slash its planned 2022 production in half to 25,000 vehicles, according to a Reuters report.

In total, Rivian made just 2,553 vehicles in Q1 and lost around £1.3bn ($1.59bn) in the same quarter. So far, its SUV and pickup truck have received glowing reviews especially for their performance on and off road which is powered by quad motors. Amazon also pledged to buy 100,000 Rivian electric vans once they are available, presumably for making deliveries. Will these factors be enough to help the company bounce back? Only time will tell. 

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