Ford has for the second time in a week offloaded shares in US electric vehicle (EV) startup Rivian.
According to filings submitted with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Blue Oval on May 13 sold seven million Rivian shares valued at $US26.88 ($A39.05) each, or $US188 million ($A273 million) in total.
It follows Ford’s sale on May 9 of eight million Rivian shares, valued at $US26.80 ($A38.93) each or $US214 million ($A311 million) in total.
Adding these together means Ford has offloaded a little over $US400 million ($A581 million) in Rivian shares in the last week.
The Blue Oval still holds almost 87 million Rivian shares, however.
Rivian first went public in November 2021 where it was offering reservation holders the option to invest in the company at $US78 ($A113.31) per share. At the time it was billed as the biggest initial float since Facebook.
Shares peaked at around $US179.47 ($A260.73) per share on November 16, 2021, and recently reached as low as $US19.25 ($A27.97) last week.
As of May 13, 2022, Rivian’s share prices closed at $US26.70 ($A38,79). This is down more than 70 per cent since it first went public in November 2021.
Over the last six months Rivian has continued to grapple with shipping costs and supply chain issues, like many other automakers.
In the first quarter of 2022, Rivian posted a quarterly net loss of $US1.59 billion ($A2.31 billion), which follows an almost $US2.5 billion ($A3.63 billion) loss in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Earlier in 2022 Rivian announced an annual production target of 25,000 vehicles. In the first quarter of 2022, it built a total of 2553 vehicles.
The US EV start-up says it’s now “ramping production and deliveries” of its R1T ute, R1S SUV and EDV700 long-wheelbase van.
Both Ford and Amazon are major stakeholders in Rivian and they both recently reported first-quarter losses due mainly to their investment in the EV startup.
In November 2021 Ford and Rivian cancelled their jointly-developed EV project which was going to see Rivian’s skateboard EV architecture underpin a Ford and a Lincoln.
Going ahead, however, is Rivian’s EDV delivery van, which it’s developed in collaboration with Amazon. The e-commerce giant has 100,000 of them on order.
Rivian has beaten rival automakers to the punch in producing an all-electric ute, with its R1T beating the likes of the Tesla Cybertruck, GMC Hummer EV and Ford F-150 Lightning to market.
The company began production late in 2021, and the company is expanding its Normal, Illinois plant, which it bought from Mitsubishi, and is opening a second facility in Georgia.
Rivian has yet to lock in plans for an Australian introduction, but previously said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it plans to enter major Asia-Pacific markets, among others.
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