DETROIT (Reuters) -Rivian Automotive is “making progress” in the increase of production of electric vehicles at its Normal, Illinois, assembly plant, Chief Executive Officer R.J. Scaringe said on Thursday.
“We’re absolutely making progress,” he said during a Wolfe Research conference, also calling the global semiconductor chip shortage the most painful constraints in the ramp up in production.
Rivian shares were up 9.5% in late trading.
Rivian produced 1,015 vehicles last year, coming up short of its target of 1,200 due to supply-chain constraints.
The California-based startup’s stock slumped after it outlined during its first quarterly earnings report as a public company its struggles with the manufacturing of its R1T pickup and R1S SUV. It also has a contract to build 100,000 electric delivery vans by 2025 for Amazon.com, which has a 20% stake in Rivian.
After the electric vehicle maker reported its first quarterly results as a listed company in December, Scaringe outlined production challenges citing global supply-chain constraints, the COVID-19 pandemic, a tight labor market and short-term issues around building electric battery modules.
(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Leslie Adler, Bernard Orr)
