The steep sell-off in electric vehicle stocks will continue this Thursday morning after Rivian (RIVN) and Lucid Motors (LCID) posted quarterly sales. The unit sales confirm that neither firm may produce EVs at scale. Losses will grow in the coming quarters, increasing risks for a bankruptcy filing.
Rivian, despite designing an attractive R1 truck EV, lost $1.73 a share. It produced 17,541 units and delivered 13,972 in Q4/2023. In 2024, it expects total units of 57,000, unchanged year-on-year. Rivian said it would achieve greater plant efficiency during a mid-year shutdown. However, the 30% production rate increase is not enough to allay investor fears. Expect RIVN stock to fall by 15% today.
Luxury EV supplier Lucid will trade below $3.50 today. It lost 29 cents a share when revenue fell by a disturbing 38.9% Y/Y to $157.51 million.
For 2024, Lucid expects to produce 9,000 vehicles. This is barely above the 8,428 vehicle production in 2023.
Among the EV firms, Polestar (PSNY), Fisker (FSR), and Nikola (NKLA) will likely face increased bankruptcy risks. ICE firms like General Motors (GM), Stellantis (STLA), and Ford (F) will cut EV production and reduce losses.
Tesla (TSLA) will emerge as the winner. Although shares will not perform well in 2024, the stock will rebound when profits rebound. Tesla will have fewer competitors by 2025.
