Things between Telsa and Rivian are about to heat up as Elon Musk opens his mouth. He’s taunting Rivian to match Tesla’s success with the Rivian R1T truck and R1S SUV. But Rivian isn’t swinging back yet. 

Elon Musk taunts the Rivian R1T 

Elon Musk is at it on Twitter again. The Tesla Cybertruck will eventually have to face the 2022 Rivian R1T if both trucks ever reach full production capacity. Currently, the Rivian R1T is in production, and the Tesla Cybertruck is facing delays. 

After Rivian had a blockbuster IPO, it now has a market value of over $100 billion. Its the second-most valuable auto manufacturer in the United States. Tesla retains the top spot for now. 

What did Elon Musk say about Rivian? 

Instead of congratulating Rivians’ success, Elon Musk decided to get on Twitter for some smack talk. He claims that high production and breakeven cash flow will be the true test for Rivian. 

He shared that there must be hundreds of automotive startups, both combustion, and electric, but Tesla is the only American carmaker to reach high volume production and positive cash flow in the past 100 years. 

But he hopes that Rivian can achieve high production and breakeven cash flow because it’s the true test. Rivian has never recorded revenue and expects less than $1 million in sales for the third quarter. 

There are about 55,400 preorders for the Rivian R1T and R1S SUV. Also, Rivian has a contract to build 100,000 electric vans with Amazan by 2030. According to an online reservation tracker created by fans, the Tesla Cybertruck has 1,256,487 unofficial preorders so far. 

Rivian needs to prove its ability to assemble vehicles and deliver them with profit. This represents a significant gamble for investors who value the company higher than traditional auto manufacturers such as Ford and General Motors. 

Will Rivian take Tesla down? 

There are multiple factors impacting the auto industry right now. The semiconductor chip shortage caused delays for the Rivian R1T and the Tesla Cybertruck. But people might be able to get their Riviran R1T faster. 

During Tesla’s first two days of trading in 2010, it had a market cap up over $2 billion. But R.J. Scaringe, Rivian CEO and founder, was worth that much on his own after his company’s second day on the market. 

Rivian shares increased by 57 percent during their first two days on the Nasdaq. Scaringe founded Rivian in 2009 and owns 17.6 million shared valued at $2.2 billion, based on Thursdays closing stock price of $122.99. 

But Rivian added flames to the Tesla rivalry by poaching former Tesla employees. They even got key engineers that helped build the Tesla Model 3. 

Scaringe shared that they began thinking about the Rivian R1T, R1S, and crossover segments as they presented a massive opportunity to demonstrate how a clean sheet, technology-focused vehicle could eliminate long-accepted compromises. 

He also shared that they wanted to establish their brand by delivering a combination of efficiency, on-road performance, off-road capability, functional utility, and product refinement that simply didn’t exist in the market. 

We will keep you updated as Tesla and Rivian continue to compete. We hope that the Rivian R1T and the Tesla Cybertruck can reach full capacity production so they can be unleashed in the wild soon.