London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jan 14, 2026

Tesla's Elon Musk trolls Rivian after blockbuster IPO

Tesla's Elon Musk trolls Rivian after blockbuster IPO

Following its first two days of trading, Rivian is valued at more than $100 billion

Despite Rivian's blockbuster IPO, Elon Musk has warned that the "true test" for the electric vehicle maker and Tesla competitor's success will be to achieve high production and breakeven cash flow.

"There have been hundreds of automotive startups, both electric & combustion, but Tesla is [the] only American carmaker to reach high volume production & positive cash flow in past 100 years," Musk tweeted.

A representative for Rivian did not immediately return FOX Business' request for comment on Musk's tweet.

Rivian, which is backed by Amazon and favored by Jeff Bezos, raised approximately $11.9 billion in its IPO after selling 153 million shares at $78 apiece. In addition, the company has granted underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 22.95 million additional shares at the IPO price.

Following its first two days of trading, Rivian is valued at more than $100 billion, above the market values of automotive giants General Motors and Ford Motor Company. Amazon holds a 22.4% stake in Rivian, while Ford holds a 14.4% stake. Shares are up approximately 3% as of the time of publication Friday.


Though Rivian has approximately 55,400 preorders for its R1T pickup and R1S SUV and has reached an agreement with Amazon for 100,000 electric delivery vans by 2030, the company has not generated any material revenue to date. Rivian said in its amended IPO prospectus that it will lose up to $1.28 billion in the third quarter and that revenue will range from zero to $1 million.

Rivian began production and deliveries of the the R1T in September, which starts at $67,500 and has an EPA-estimated 314 miles of range on a single charge. As of Oct. 31, Rivian produced 180 R1Ts and delivered 156 R1Ts. The R1S, which starts at $70,000 and has an EPA-estimated 316 miles of range on a single charge, is expected to begin deliveries in December following completion of ongoing vehicle validation and all required testing.
The company expects to produce approximately 1,200 R1Ts and 25 R1Ss and deliver approximately 1,000 R1Ts and 15 R1Ss by the end of 2021. In addition, Rivian anticipates its preorders will be filled by the end of 2023. Meanwhile, the company expects to produce and deliver 10 electric delivery vans in 2021.

Rivian recently began production and deliveries of its R1T passenger pickup truck in September, which starts at $67,500 and has an EPA-estimated 314 miles of range. 


Rivian's factory in Normal, Illinois, is currently equipped to produce up to 150,000 vehicles annually. Rivian is aiming to produce approximately 1,310 R1 vehicles and 1,710 commercial vehicles per week, which equates to 65,000 R1 vehicles and 85,000 commercial vehicles, including EDVs, annually.

"We expect to reach a vehicle production rate, which, when annualized, would result in us using 100% of the facility’s current installed capacity of up to 150,000 vehicles by late 2023," Rivian wrote in the filing. "Further, we believe that we will be able to increase the annual production capacity of the Normal Factory up to 200,000 vehicles in 2023 as we introduce additional R1 platform variants and expand the facility. Over the next couple of years, we expect to establish additional domestic production capacity in order to support our product development roadmap and fulfill future anticipated demand."

This isn't the first time Musk has taken a swipe at the competition.

In August, Musk tweeted "Don’t want to be unreasonable, but maybe they should be required to deliver at least one vehicle per billion dollars of valuation *before* the IPO?" in response to reports that Rivian's IPO would value the company's at approximately $80 billion. He also tweeted laughing emojis in response to a report that Rivian was developing a Level 3 autonomous driving system with hands-free capability, similar to Tesla's Full Self-Driving feature.

In October, Musk also responded to a report that the R1T production rate stalled at just over 1 electric truck per day, tweeting "prototypes are trivial compared to scaling production & supply chain."

"If those are solved, achieving positive gross margin is the next nightmare," he added. "Starting a second new vehicle line before first is working will divide resources & amplify probability of failure."

In addition to Musk's Twitter jabs, Tesla has previously filed a lawsuit against Rivian, accusing the company of stealing employees and trade secrets.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Intensifies Arctic Security Engagement as Trump’s Greenland Rhetoric Fuels Allied Concern
Meghan Markle Could Return to the UK for the First Time in Nearly Four Years If Security Is Secured
Meghan Markle Likely to Return to UK Only if Harry Secures Official Security Cover
UAE Restricts Funding for Emiratis to Study in UK Amid Fears Over Muslim Brotherhood Influence
EU Seeks ‘Farage Clause’ in Brexit Reset Talks to Safeguard Long-Term Agreement Stability
Starmer’s Push to Rally Support for Action Against Elon Musk’s X Faces Setback as Canada Shuns Ban
UK Free School Meals Expansion Faces Political and Budgetary Delays
EU Seeks ‘Farage Clause’ in Brexit Reset Talks With Britain
Germany Hit by Major Airport Strikes Disrupting European Travel
Prince Harry Seeks King Charles’ Support to Open Invictus Games on UK Return
Washington Holds Back as Britain and France Signal Willingness to Deploy Troops in Postwar Ukraine
Elon Musk Accuses UK Government of Suppressing Free Speech as X Faces Potential Ban Over AI-Generated Content
Russia Deploys Hypersonic Missile in Strike on Ukraine
OpenAI and SoftBank Commit One Billion Dollars to Energy and Data Centre Supplier
UK Prime Minister Starmer Reaffirms Support for Danish Sovereignty Over Greenland Amid U.S. Pressure
UK Support Bolsters U.S. Seizure of Russian-Flagged Tanker Marinera in Atlantic Strike on Sanctions Evasion
The Claim That Maduro’s Capture and Trial Violate International Law Is Either Legally Illiterate—or Deliberately Deceptive
UK Data Watchdog Probes Elon Musk’s X Over AI-Generated Grok Images Amid Surge in Non-Consensual Outputs
Prince Harry to Return to UK for Court Hearing Without Plans to Meet King Charles III
UK Confirms Support for US Seizure of Russian-Flagged Oil Tanker in North Atlantic
Béla Tarr, Visionary Hungarian Filmmaker, Dies at Seventy After Long Illness
UK and France Pledge Military Hubs Across Ukraine in Post-Ceasefire Security Plan
Prince Harry Poised to Regain UK Security Cover, Clearing Way for Family Visits
UK Junk Food Advertising Ban Faces Major Loophole Allowing Brand-Only Promotions
Maduro’s Arrest Without The Hague Tests International Law—and Trump’s Willingness to Break It
German Intelligence Secretly Intercepted Obama’s Air Force One Communications
The U.S. State Department’s account in Persian: “President Trump is a man of action. If you didn’t know it until now, now you do—do not play games with President Trump.”
Fake Mainstream Media Double Standard: Elon Musk Versus Mamdani
HSBC Leads 2026 Mortgage Rate Cuts as UK Lending Costs Ease
US Joint Chiefs Chairman Outlines How Operation Absolute Resolve Was Carried Out in Venezuela
Starmer Welcomes End of Maduro Era While Stressing International Law and UK Non-Involvement
Korean Beauty Turns Viral Skincare Into a Global Export Engine
UK Confirms Non-Involvement in U.S. Military Action Against Venezuela
UK Terror Watchdog Calls for Australian-Style Social Media Ban to Protect Teenagers
Iranian Protests Intensify as Another Revolutionary Guard Member Is Killed and Khamenei Blames the West
Delta Force Identified as Unit Behind U.S. Operation That Captured Venezuela’s President
Europe’s Luxury Sanctions Punish Russian Consumers While a Sanctions-Circumvention Industry Thrives
Berkshire’s Buffett-to-Abel Transition Tests Whether a One-Man Trust Model Can Survive as a System
Fraud in European Central Bank: Lagarde’s Hidden Pay Premium Exposes a Transparency Crisis at the European Central Bank
Trump Announces U.S. Large-Scale Strike on Venezuela, Declares President Maduro and Wife Captured
Tesla Loses EV Crown to China’s BYD After Annual Deliveries Decline in 2025
UK Manufacturing Growth Reaches 15-Month Peak as Output and Orders Improve in December
Beijing Threatened to Scrap UK–China Trade Talks After British Minister’s Taiwan Visit
Newly Released Files Reveal Tony Blair Pressured Officials Over Iraq Death Case Involving UK Soldiers
Top Stocks and Themes to Watch in 2026 as Markets Enter New Year with Fresh Momentum
No UK Curfew Ordered as Deepfake TikTok Falsely Attributes Decree to Prime Minister Starmer
Europe’s Largest Defence Groups Set to Return Nearly Five Billion Dollars to Shareholders in Twenty Twenty-Five
Abu Dhabi ‘Capital of Capital’: How Abu Dhabi Rose as a Sovereign Wealth Power
Diamonds Are Powering a New Quantum Revolution
Trump Threatens Strikes Against Iran if Nuclear Programme Is Restarted
×