Rivian CEO Not Scared Of Tesla's Cybertruck

RJ Scaringe, CEO of EV maker Rivian, has remarked that the imminent arrival of Tesla's Cybertruck isn't a concern for his company. Scaringe believes there are enough differences between Cybertruck and R1T customers. Tesla's branding clout could be a huge factor, however.

"If you were to think of the Venn diagrams with customers, there's probably not a lot of overlap," said Scaringe when addressing the audience at Code Conference 2023 earlier this week and referring to the Cybertruck. "Customers want lots of different things, so we need to have choice and variety. It's great to see something that's so different."

He also said that Rivian's success won't necessarily come at the expense of another automaker's failure - and vice versa - so he believes the two pickups can both succeed.

Perhaps it's difficult for Scaringe to fear a product that remains elusive, even though the first Cybertruck has already rolled off the production line. Rivian has also seen enough demand in recent months to avoid price cuts, and the R1T remains a high-end electric pickup that starts at a far higher price point than the Cybertruck's original sub-$40k MSRP.

We don't expect the Cybertruck to be anywhere near as affordable when it arrives, but there will undoubtedly be some overlap in price between more expensive Cybertrucks and base R1Ts. Neither the R1T nor the Cybertruck are pure work trucks, so we can easily see many Rivian customers considering the Tesla.

On the other hand, Scaringe's assessment that many customers want different things is spot-on - it's why the refined, unibody Honda Ridgeline and rugged, raw Jeep Gladiator play in the same segment. The Honda excels where the Jeep is quite ordinary, and the reverse is true. The R1S' ability to succeed in spite of the Cybertruck may come down to how different the two pickups are, aesthetically and otherwise.

One can't ignore Tesla's ability to ramp up production quickly, though, making it the envy of many electric startups. Elon Musk's company produced its five-millionth car this month, just over six months after it hit the four-million production mark.

Despite Scaringe's comments, it would be impossible for him not to have an eye on Tesla. After all, Rivian has mirrored Tesla's strategy several times, including building its motors in-house to save on production costs. And, like Tesla, Rivian aims to open its own charging infrastructure, too.

On a much smaller scale, Rivian is overcoming its own production hurdles and gradually getting cars into customers' hands faster. Dual-Motor variants of the R1T pickup with the Large battery pack recently began reaching customers, and Rivian added its 5,000th electric van to Amazon's delivery fleet in July.

We'll see if Scaringe remains unruffled by the Cybertruck when the electric pickup finally begins to make an impact on the sales charts.