Musk believes that these two new energy car companies are dangerous and may soon go bankrupt
Elon Musk's Tesla, which has gone through a difficult, long, and dangerous road to profitability before its success, has now become an electric vehicle leader. Unfortunately for rivals, American electric vehicle startups Rivian and Lucid, Musk doesn't see any hope of seeing the light of day for the two companies, based on what Musk said on the social media platform X last night.
Elon Musk
A few days ago, both Rivian and Lucid announced their fourth-quarter 2023 earnings reports, and Musk discussed his impressions of the two companies on social platforms and how long they can survive before things fall apart.
In short, the current situation between Musk and these two companies is not optimistic. Both predictions seem to herald the eventual bankruptcy of both companies and the possible end of operations, which would give Tesla an overwhelming lead in the U.S. EV movement.
Musk commented on Rivian
Rivian and Lucid are two battery electric vehicle companies in the United States. Rivian and Tesla are complementary to each other in a way, both contributing to the EV movement, both focusing on expanding their product lines, offering cheaper cars, and creating a "brand" to some extent that caters specifically to people who are interested in supporting companies that are committed to pushing EVs to the forefront.
Despite a tumultuous past for both companies, including an employee poaching lawsuit, Tesla and Rivian are widely regarded as two of the best electric car companies in the United States and seem to respect each other.
However, Rivian is still having a tough time right now and is currently ramping up production and trying to become profitable as quickly as possible. During last night's earnings call, the company did say that every car it produces is still losing money, which is not unusual in early operations. Musk believes that, according to the data, Rivian has about six quarters left before it goes bankrupt.
Musk said Rivian's problem isn't with their products. "Their product design is not bad," Musk said, "but the really hard part of getting a car company up and running is getting it into volume production and bringing in positive cash flow." ”
马斯克评价Peter Rawlinson
Lucid and Tesla are completely different stories.
As can be seen from Musk's comments over the years about Lucid's CEO/CTO Peter Rawlinson's position on Tesla's Model S project, there is still hostility between the two. Musk has said that Rawlinson left Tesla when things got really difficult, and he still seems to harbor a bit of a grudge for it.
Rawlinson's Lucid is still alive and well, largely thanks to strong investors from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is why the company has established production facilities in the country. It also manufactures cars for certain government organizations in Saudi Arabia. Musk affirmed that Lucid's survival was purely due to PIF's involvement.
In fact, if these two major U.S. companies can't make ends meet, the U.S. electric car adoption campaign will be hit hard. Rivian is a promising company because it has shown growth and progress in electric vehicles, but Lucid has a large backing and funding is essentially unlimited.