Rivian Stock Closed at a Record Low. Blame Ford.
Shares of the EV start-up slid 6.8% to $9.57 on Thursday, while the
rose 0.7% and the
gained 1.7%.
It’s a record closing low, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The prior closing low was Feb. 23, when shares closed at $10.07.
Shares of most electric-vehicle makers have been weak all year. Rivian stock has tumbled around 60% so far in 2024.
Rivian’s drop Thursday comes as Ford cut pricing for its all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup trucks by as much as $5,500, according to CarsDirect, which cited a memo sent to Ford dealerships.
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“We are adjusting pricing for model year 2024 models as we continue to adapt to the market to achieve the optimal mix of sales growth and customer value,” said a company spokesman in an emailed statement. “This adjustment is ahead of [2024] models launching on Ford.com later this month.”
The standard-range Pro trim, the base model of the F-150 Lightning, will start at about $55,000, unchanged from the 2023 version. The XLT trim will start at about $63,000, down $2,000. The Flash trim will start at about $68,000, down $5,500. The Lariat extended range model starts at about $77,000, down $2,500. The highest-level Platinum extended-range Lightning is also unchanged, at $85,000.
Ford’s all-electric F-150 Lightning competes with Rivian’s R1T, even though an F-150 is a larger vehicle. More price competition isn’t what investors want to see.
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Ford has slowed production of the F-150 Lightning as inventories have risen. The automotive-data provider Cox noted that Lightning inventories represented 111 days of supply late in 2023, while inventories of around 60 days are more typical for traditional auto makers.
Ford sold 7,743 Lightnings in the first quarter of 2024, down from 11,905 in the fourth quarter of 2023. A seasonal dip is normal in the first quarter, but Lighting’s share of all F-150 sales came in at 5% in the first quarter, down from almost 7% in the fourth quarter.
Rivian sold 13,588 vehicles in the first quarter, down from 13,972 in the fourth quarter. Rivian doesn’t provide sales figures for each of its three models: a pickup truck, an SUV, and the delivery vans sold to
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Ford stock closed down 0.2% on Thursday at $13.04.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
