Rivian's CEO can't seem to give a clear answer whether the company has enough money to build its next vehicle
- Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe skirted questions on whether the EV maker has enough cash to produce the R2.
- Scaringe told CNBC he's "confident" in the capital Rivian has through 2025.
RJ Scaringe, the CEO of Rivian, appeared to avoid directly answering questions about his company's financial health after earnings missed expectations and said it plans to slash 10% of its staff.
The CEO of the EV manufacturer was asked in a CNBC interview whether he's confident Rivian has enough capital to manufacture the R2, a smaller, cheaper version of its flagship R1 SUV, which is slated to hit the market on March 7.
Scaringe's response to CNBC: "We're incredibly excited about the R2." He then talked about Rivian's "brand strength" in the EV market and how the company plans to go "heads down" on channeling that consumer excitement and its "significant market share" into the production of its next vehicle.
"The product itself is coming together beautifully," the CEO said about the R2.
Dissatisfied with his response, the CNBC interviewer followed up by asking the same question once again.
Scaringe's answer remained optimistic yet vague the second time around.
"We're very confident in the capital we have supporting operations through the end of 2025," the CEO said. Rivian, he added, intends to ensure the R2 will be launched on time by focusing on "opportunities" within capital markets and its efforts to "drive cost efficiencies" across the business.
Rivian expects capital expenditures to increase to $1.75 billion this year, according to its earnings report. Capital costs were $1.03 billion in 2023.
When reached for comment, a Rivian spokesperson referred Business Insider to excerpts from Scaringe's companywide email to its employees regarding its plans to slash 10% of its staff amid slowing EV demand.
"Our business is facing a challenging macroeconomic environment — including historically high interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty — and we need to make purposeful changes now to ensure our promising future," the email says. "We must strategically prioritize our growth areas of the business, including the launch of Peregrine and R2, as well as investing in our go-to-market capabilities."
Rivian reported a loss of $5.4 billion in 2023 despite delivering twice as many EVs compared to the previous year.
The company expects to manufacture 57,000 vehicles this year, significantly lower than the 80,000 analysts forecast it would produce in 2024, according to Bloomberg.