Elon Musk seems to have momentarily forgotten the constant twists and turns in its bid to buy Twitter to focus on Tesla and current events in the EV market. In an interview with Silicon Valley of Tesla Owners, the mogul touched on various topics, mainly related to the automotive business. Among many, he made a dramatic prediction about the future Rivian D cleartwo of her competitors, as he assured that Both are on the verge of bankruptcy..
Such a statement by Elon Musk could be taken as another blow to the liver of his rivals. After all, it is known that a businessman is not afraid of disputes and says what he thinks, not embarrassed in words, for better or for worse. However, this time around, the statements were made as part of a broader analysis of Tesla’s history and the ups and downs that major automakers have faced over the past 12 or 13 years.
In fact, Elon Musk mentioned the Rivian and Lucid affair in a segment where he talked about problems that Tesla faced between 2008 and 2010especially during the development of the roadster and financial assistance to major automakers from the US government.
“Daimler’s investment in May 2009 was what was needed for Tesla’s survival, not government loans. This is another thing that causes confusion because GM had a huge help, almost like a full donation of tens of dollars.” billions of taxpayer dollars. […]; Chrysler also got a lot of money, and Ford got a $5 billion loan even though Ford was in better financial shape. I think the Ford family is more farsighted than the people who run GM and Chrysler.
But to this day, the fact remains that the only American automakers that have not gone bankrupt are Tesla and Ford. And if something doesn’t change significantly with Rivian and Lucid, both will go bankrupt. They are on their way to bankruptcy. […] I hope they can do something; But if they can’t cut their spending drastically, they’ll be in serious trouble and end up in a graveyard like every other car company, with the exception of Tesla and Ford.”
Elon Musk on Rivian and Lucid
According to Elon Musk, Rivian and Lucid are on the path to “death”
As you can see from the video interview, during his prediction of the future of Rivian and Lucid, Elon Musk used a peculiar example. “If they were planes, they would go like this,” he said, mimicking the motion of a plane falling down. “If something can be changed, that’s fine, but now they are moving towards the intersection with doom,” he added.
Probably Elon Musk’s statements they won’t do very well in the aforementioned companies. Some will see the mogul’s words as another chapter in the already existing rivalry between Tesla and Rivian; others may see something that goes a little further. Let’s not forget that Rivian’s last year has been on everyone’s lips, especially since the company went public. However, he has become the protagonist of several controversies in recent months; The most notorious, without a doubt, came after it was revealed that the price of all its electric vehicle stocks would rise by 20%. This caused an extremely negative public reaction and forced the partial cancellation of this measure.
Experts believe that Rivian sells its cars at a lower price than it shouldwhich can lead to very negative consequences in the future. So far, it closed the first quarter of 2022 with a loss of $1,593 million; a sharp increase from the $444 million it lost in the same period in 2021. But the company reported cash holdings of $17 billion, most of which came from an IPO last November.
What’s going on with Lucid, the other firm targeted by Elon Musk? The brand has recently entered Europe with the Lucid Air, which sells for over 200,000 euros. The company produced 700 vehicles during the first quarter of the year and recorded an operating loss of nearly $600 million; while he revealed he had $5,400 million in cash to fund before next year.
Is Elon Musk right about the future of the two companies competing with Tesla? Or will Rivian and Lucid be able to prove him wrong? We’ll have to wait for now, but the South African-born mogul appears to be quite convinced of his prediction.
Source: Hiper Textual
