The electric automaker Rivian says it’s on pace to meet its 2022 production target, which was reduced due to ongoing supply chain problems.
Rivian’s Normal plant produced 2,553 vehicles in the first quarter of 2022 (January, February and March), the company said Tuesday. That’s more than double the pace of the fourth quarter of 2021, when 1,003 vehicles were produced in the first few months of production.
Rivian will need to ramp up production even faster to meet its goal of 25,000 vehicles in 2022. Rivian said Tuesday that the first-quarter numbers were in line with its expectations, and it believes it’s “well positioned” to hit the 25,000 target.
“Shoutout to our team in Normal working hard to ramp production of the R1T, R1S and EDV,” Rivian said on Facebook. “We produced 2,553 vehicles in the first quarter, and 3,568 since the start of production late last year. We're excited about this progress, and especially to see more customer deliveries!”
EV production began at Rivian six months ago, but it’s gotten off to a slower start than was hoped. COVID-19 and global supply chain pressures have challenged many automakers, including Rivian. The semiconductor, or chip, shortage has been among the most painful. Rivian said supply chain problems will essentially limit planned production by half in 2022 – from 50,000 to the 25,000 number.
Rivian’s Normal plant has a production capacity of 150,000 vehicles per year, and expansions will eventually bring that to 200,000. It’s also building a second plant in Georgia.
Rivian has over 5,000 employees in Normal. It is McLean County’s second-largest employer.
