Rivian Automotive Inc (RIVN) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Rivian's Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note that today's conference is being recorded.

再會。謝謝你的支持。歡迎參加 Rivian 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I will now hand the conference over to your speaker host Tim Bei, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在將會議交給演講主持人投資者關係副總裁 Tim Bei。請繼續。

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for Rivian's Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. Today, I'm joined by RJ Scaringe, our CEO and Founder; Claire McDonough, our CFO; and Javier Varela, our Chief Operations Officer.

下午好，感謝您參加 Rivian 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。今天，我們的執行長兼創辦人 RJ Scaringe 也加入了我的行列。克萊爾·麥克唐納，我們的財務長；以及我們的營運長哈維爾·瓦雷拉 (Javier Varela)。

Before we begin, matters discussed on this call, including comments and responses to questions reflect management's views as of today. We will also be making statements related to our business, operations and financial performance that may be considered forward-looking statements under federal securities laws. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These results and uncertainties are described in our SEC filings and today's shareholder letter.

在我們開始之前，本次電話會議討論的事項（包括評論和問題答案）反映了管理層截至目前的觀點。我們還將做出與我們的業務、營運和財務表現相關的聲明，根據聯邦證券法，這些聲明可能被視為前瞻性聲明。此類陳述涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果有重大差異。這些結果和不確定性在我們向 SEC 提交的文件和今天的股東信中進行了描述。

During this call, we will discuss both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures is provided in our shareholder letter. Just before the call, we published our shareholder letter, which includes an overview of our progress over the recent months. I encourage you to read it for additional details around some of the items we'll cover on today's call.

在本次電話會議中，我們將討論公認會計原則和非公認會計原則財務指標。我們的股東信中提供了 GAAP 與非 GAAP 財務指標的調整表。就在電話會議之前，我們發布了股東信，其中概述了我們最近幾個月的進展。我鼓勵您閱讀它，以了解我們將在今天的電話會議中討論的一些項目的更多詳細資訊。

With that, I'll turn the call over to RJ who will begin with a few opening remarks.

接下來，我將把電話轉給 RJ，他將首先做一些開場白。

Thank you, Tim, and thank you all for joining us today.

謝謝提姆，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。

I'm going to start by talking about the R1 and specifically the Gen 2 ramp up. First, the material costs progress we've made as well as the efficiency improvements with the plant are really important and critical for our long-term profitability of business. Those changes and a lot of the changes that went at Gen 2, we're focused on cost but we also introduced hundreds of other design and engineering changes that enhance the performance of the customer experience in the vehicle.

我將首先討論 R1，特別是 Gen 2 的升級。首先，我們所取得的材料成本進步以及工廠效率的提高對於我們業務的長期獲利能力非常重要且至關重要。這些變化以及第二代的許多變化，我們專注於成本，但我們還引入了數百項其他設計和工程變更，以增強車輛​​中客戶體驗的性能。

And one of those is introduction of a new variant, what we call our Tri-Motor and it puts a single motor in the front and two motors in the back, and it delivers really exceptional performance. Performance is better than our first-generation Quad, but with a much lower cost in terms of what it takes to manufacture and also with a substantial improvement to efficiency. And we're seeing a lot of excitement around the trial, and we're excited to also be bringing the quad to market the updated Quad in 2025.

其中之一是引入一種新的變體，我們稱之為三電機，它在前面放置一個電機，在後面放置兩個電機，它提供了真正卓越的性能。性能優於我們的第一代 Quad，但製造成本卻低得多，而且效率也得到了大幅提高。我們在試驗中看到了很多令人興奮的事情，我們很高興能夠在 2025 年將更新的 Quad 推向市場。

Now with that, we had a bunch of suppliers who brought on with the Gen 2, around 50% of the bill of materials by cost is with new suppliers or new contracts, and with that, there's been some challenges. And those have really impacted us in quarter, and this has been a tough quarter for us because of some of those supply chain or supply ramp challenges. And one of those suppliers, in particular, in particular, has limited our production quite substantially, and we're working very, very hard to address that. This is one of our highest priorities in terms of the business, and we're seeing this is really as a short-term issue, but it certainly introduced challenges as we saw in Q3.

現在，我們有很多供應商推出了 Gen 2，按成本計算，大約 50% 的物料清單來自新供應商或新合同，因此，存在一些挑戰。這些確實對我們的季度產生了影響，由於供應鏈或供應增加方面的一些挑戰，這對我們來說是一個艱難的季度。其中一家供應商特別嚴重地限制了我們的生產，我們正在非常非常努力地解決這個問題。這是我們業務方面的最高優先事項之一，我們認為這確實是一個短期問題，但它確實帶來了我們在第三季度看到的挑戰。

Now a lot of the learnings that went into the Gen 2 ramp-up, the design of the components, the design of the systems are underpinning what's going into R2. And the R2 program is advancing. It's -- from a timing point of view, it's on track. And the product itself is really exciting. It's delivering a level of performance and capability in a package that really looks and feels like Rivian but it's doing it at a substantial reduction in terms of its overall cost. And a key part of this isn't just the design of the components. It's also all the supplier relationships that we've grown and built through R1.

現在，第二代的升級、組件的設計、系統的設計中學到的許多知識都為 R2 的發展奠定了基礎。 R2計劃正在進行中。從時間的角度來看，它正在步入正軌。產品本身確實令人興奮。它在外觀和感覺上確實像 Rivian 的軟體包中提供了一定程度的性能和功能，但總體成本卻大幅降低。其中的關鍵部分不僅僅是組件的設計。這也是我們透過 R1 發展和建立的所有供應商關係。

And today, as it stands, we've sourced about 85% of the bill of materials on the R2 program. And that 85% that's been sourced is within or aggressive cost targets we've set for the program. And we've talked about these at our Investor Day, but this is overall going to be what allows us to reduce the cost of R2 relative to R1 on a sort of a like-for-like basis in terms of content by about 45%. Beyond just the cost focus that's gone into R2, this is also a program that's really been architected around creating something that's special and unique in the marketplace.

目前，我們已經採購了 R2 項目約 85% 的物料清單。所購買的 85% 都在我們為該計劃設定的成本目標之內或激進的成本目標之內。我們已經在投資者日討論過這些，但這總體上將使我們能夠將 R2 相對於 R1 的成本在內容方面以類似的方式降低約 45% 。除了 R2 關注的成本之外，這也是一個真正圍繞著創造市場上特殊和獨特的東西而設計的計劃。

And really our key objective is to make sure we can capture the same level of market share and excitement that we've done with our R1s, one of the strongest market share players for vehicles, flagship vehicles over $70,000. And our hope and, of course, what we're targeting is to capture that same level of excitement, but at a price point, starting at $45,000 with R2.

事實上，我們的主要目標是確保我們能夠獲得與 R1 相同水平的市場份額和興奮感，R1 是市場份額最強的車輛之一，是售價超過 70,000 美元的旗艦車輛。我們的希望，當然，我們的目標是捕捉同樣程度的興奮，但價格點是，R2 起價為 45,000 美元。

The key delivering all this is, of course, the launch of our plant and the production line here normal. And the expansions we're making to the facility are well underway. The grading work at the site level is essentially done. This positions us to start deliveries of R2 in the first half of 2026. And so that the progress that's being driven into the plant, the learnings from R1 and of course, the supply chain relationships we've established and the contracts we're putting in place are really critical for both delivering on the timing but also the aggressive cost targets we've set for this program.

當然，實現這一切的關鍵是我們工廠的投產和生產線的正常運作。我們對該設施的擴建正在順利進行中。現場級別的分級工作已基本完成。這使我們能夠在 2026 年上半年開始交付 R2。設定的正向成本目標都至關重要。

Now we also announced today that the sourcing of battery cells for the program. And we're using a [ sulligical cell ] of 4695 cells, so 46 millimeters in diameter, 95 millimeters tall. And that relationship with LG is something we've been working on for quite some time. And those cells go into a really uniquely designed pack, where the modules and the pack in conjunction with, of course, holding the cells, act as a core structural element of the vehicles. This is a structural battery pack, where not just the structure of the pack is part of the body. But the top of the battery pack actually forms the floor of the vehicle.

現在我們今天也宣布了該計劃的電池採購。我們使用的是 4695 個細胞的 [sulligical cell]，因此直徑為 46 毫米，高 95 毫米。我們與 LG 的合作關係已經持續了一段時間了。這些電池進入一個真正獨特設計的電池組中，其中模組和電池組結合在一起，當然，容納電池，充當車輛的核心結構元件。這是一個結構性電池組，不僅是電池組的結構也是機身的一部分。但電池組的頂部實際上構成了車輛的地板。

And so these are the types of decisions we're making across the R2 program to drive cost efficiency through part elimination or park consolidation, which is key for us delivering at the price point we've talked about with our R2 but doing that with a healthy positive gross margin.

因此，這些是我們在 R2 計劃中做出的決策類型，旨在透過消除零件或園區整合來提高成本效率，這對於我們以我們與 R2 討論過的價格點實現交付至關重要，但要以健康的正毛利率。

Now beyond body structure, battery sourcing, the vehicle architecture, some of the things we've talked about, one of the other really important elements of R2 is leveraging the electrical architecture, our topology ECUs and the software stack we developed and put that into the Gen 2 of R1 is that, that platform underpins R2. It's also core for a joint venture with Volkswagen. And the joint venture Volkswagen continues to progress well. We remain really excited about this. Our teams are passionate about the impact we can drive through leveraging and seeing our technology make its way into so many different vehicles.

現在，除了車身結構、電池採購、車輛架構以及我們討論過的一些內容之外，R2 的其他真正重要元素之一是利用電氣架構、我們的拓撲 ECU 以及我們開發並投入其中的軟體堆疊R1 的第二代是該平台支撐R2。它也是與大眾汽車合資企業的核心。而合資企業大眾汽車也持續進展順利。我們對此仍然感到非常興奮。我們的團隊熱衷於透過利用我們的技術來產生影響，並看到我們的技術被應用到許多不同的車輛中。

We have a drivable demonstrator where we've put our hardware and our software into a Volkswagen Group product. And the investments from Volkswagen as part of this joint venture, which we've talked about in the past, these are really important for us. These allow us to only fund the continued growth of Rivian and through the launch of R2 in Normal, but also allow us to launch our production plant in Georgia, where that will not only produce R2 but other vehicles on this midsized platform. And ultimately, the capital we have plus the capital provided by the joint venture will take us through positive free cash flow.

我們有一個可駕駛的演示器，我們已將我們的硬體和軟體放入大眾集團的產品中。作為該合資企業一部分的大眾汽車投資，我們過去曾討論過，這些對我們來說非常重要。這些使我們不僅能夠為 Rivian 的持續發展提供資金，並透過在 Normal 推出 R2，而且還使我們能夠在喬治亞州設立生產工廠，在那裡不僅生產 R2，還生產這個中型平台上的其他車輛。最終，我們擁有的資本加上合資企業提供的資本將為我們帶來正的自由現金流。

Now I said it before, and I do want to end by just restating the importance of creating highly compelling product in driving the transition to electrification. We've seen that with R1. The R1S is the most popular SUV over $70,000 in California, and that's not just the most popular electric SUV, it's the most popular SUV in California. We're hoping to see that level of excitement continue and carry through with R2, as I said, and ultimately, that's what's going to help pull customers out of combustion vehicles, internal combustion vehicles and [ NTVs ] as the features and the capabilities of the vehicle being so exciting that it helps draw customers in.

我之前已經說過了，最後我確實想重申創造極具吸引力的產品在推動電氣化轉型方面的重要性。我們已經在 R1 中看到了這一點。 R1S 是加州最受歡迎的 70,000 美元以上 SUV，它不僅是最受歡迎的電動 SUV，也是加州最受歡迎的 SUV。正如我所說，我們希望看到這種興奮程度繼續下去，並透過 R2 得以延續，最終，這將幫助客戶擺脫燃燒車輛、內燃車輛和 [NTV] 的特性和功能。有助於吸引顧客。

And so that's our focus. That's what has us incredibly optimistic around the future. And we'd like to thank all those that continue to support this vision. This is our employees, our customers, partners, suppliers, of course, our communities and lastly our shareholders.

這就是我們的重點。這就是我們對未來非常樂觀的原因。我們要感謝所有繼續支持這個願景的人。這是我們的員工、我們的客戶、合作夥伴、供應商，當然還有我們的社區，最後還有我們的股東。

So with that, I'll pass the call to Claire.

那麼，我會把電話轉給克萊爾。

Thanks, RJ. During the third quarter of 2024, we made progress driving greater cost efficiency and validating the differentiated nature of our technology stack. During the third quarter, we produced 13,157 vehicles and delivered 10,018 vehicles, which represented the primary driver of the $874 million of revenue we generated.

謝謝，RJ。 2024 年第三季度，我們在推動更高的成本效率並驗證我們技術堆疊的差異化性質方面取得了進展。第三季度，我們生產了 13,157 輛汽車，交付了 10,018 輛汽車，這是我們創造 8.74 億美元收入的主要動力。

As mentioned on our second quarter earnings call, we expected Q3 deliveries to decrease on a sequential basis due to the reduced R1 inventory. We started the third quarter with low finished goods inventory of R1, due to the successful sell-down of our first-generation R1 vehicles in the second quarter. Demand for R1 vehicles was negatively impacted in the third quarter of 2024 by the production disruption and challenging consumer backdrop. The sequential production ramp following the plant retooling upgrade and the part shortage limited availability of specific R1 variance for sale in the third quarter.

正如我們在第二季財報電話會議上提到的，由於 R1 庫存減少，我們預計第三季交付量將環比下降。由於我們的第一代 R1 車輛在第二季度成功銷售，我們在第三季度伊始 R1 的成品庫存較低。 2024 年第三季度，生產中斷和充滿挑戰的消費者環境對 R1 車輛的需求產生了負面影響。工廠重組升級後的連續產量增加和零件短缺限制了第三季銷售的特定 R1 差異的可用性。

Total gross profit was negative $392 million, our gross loss per vehicle delivered was approximately $39,100 which includes $18,600 of depreciation and amortization expense, and $600 of stock-based compensation expense. In addition, we incurred approximately $3,700 per vehicle delivered in the quarter related to our cost of revenue efficiency initiatives, which we do not anticipate being part of our long-term normalized cost structure.

總毛利為負 3.92 億美元，每輛車交付的毛損失約為 39,100 美元，其中包括 18,600 美元的折舊和攤銷費用，以及 600 美元的股票補償費用。此外，我們在本季度交付的每輛車上產生了約 3,700 美元的費用，這與我們的收入效率計劃成本有關，我們預計這不會成為我們長期標準化成本結構的一部分。

The introduction of the second-generation R1 platform, combined with the commercial cost improvements and commodity tailwinds are expected to enable a 20% material cost reduction when comparing an R1 Dual-Motor with Large Pack produced in Q1 2024 versus Q4 2024.

與2024 年第一季生產的大包裝R1 雙馬達與2024 年第四季生產的R1 雙馬達相比，第二代R1 平台的推出，加上商業成本的改善和商品順風，預計可將材料成本降低20%。

Importantly, in the third quarter, we saw a meaningful reduction in our second-generation R1 material cost as compared to our first generation. This is in line with our target, and we expect to see this continue into the fourth quarter. We remain focused on driving greater cost efficiency throughout the company and continue to see this result in lower operating expenses.

重要的是，在第三季度，我們發現第二代 R1 材料成本與第一代相比顯著降低。這符合我們的目標，我們預計這種情況將持續到第四季。我們仍然致力於提高整個公司的成本效率，並繼續看到這會降低營運費用。

Our GAAP operating expenses in the third quarter were $777 million, which is the lowest level we've had in 3 years, and a reflection of the cost savings initiatives we've put in place. We are reaffirming our annual production guidance of 47,000 to 49,000 vehicles. We expect to increase our Tri-Motor and commercial van production and deliveries in the fourth quarter as those variants only require 1 in Dual-Motor. I want to emphasize we believe this is a short-term obstacle.

第三季我們的 GAAP 營運費用為 7.77 億美元，這是我們 3 年來的最低水平，也反映了我們採取的成本節約措施。我們重申年產量目標為 47,000 至 49,000 輛。我們預計第四季將增加三電機和商用貨車的產量和交貨量，因為這些車型只需要 1 個雙馬達。我想強調的是，我們認為這是一個短期障礙。

We are reaffirming our annual delivery outlook of low single-digit growth as compared to 2023, which reflects a range of 50,500 to 52,000 vehicles. We expect to have a modest GAAP gross profit in the fourth quarter of 2024. This is supported by three key drivers: first, revenue per unit is expected to increase driven by an increase in non-vehicle revenues, such as regulatory credits, service, remarketing, software and other services. We now expect to have a total of approximately $300 million of regulatory credit sales in 2024. We also expect to see an increase in the R1 average selling price as we improve our sales mix with more meaningful Tri-Motor sales in Q4.

我們重申，與 2023 年相比，我們的年度交付量預計將實現低個位數成長，即 50,500 至 52,000 輛汽車。我們預計 2024 年第四季的 GAAP 毛利將保持適度。現在，我們預計 2024 年監管信貸銷售總額約為 3 億美元。

Secondly, as part of the transition to our second-generation R1 vehicles, we are seeing an improvement in material costs due to the design changes supplier commercial negotiations and lower raw material costs. We also expect the increased mix of EDV sales in the fourth quarter will also help drive down our variable cost per unit delivered.

其次，作為向第二代 R1 車輛過渡的一部分，由於設計變更、供應商商業談判和原材料成本降低，我們看到材料成本有所改善。我們也預計第四季度 EDV 銷售組合的增加也將有助於降低我們交付的單位變動成本。

Lastly, based on changes to the design of our vehicles, improvements in the manufacturing process and depreciation of our initial vehicle tooling, we expect to reduce our fixed cost per vehicle delivered in the fourth quarter. We also expect LCNRV and firm purchase commitment balances to continue to decline in the fourth quarter.

最後，根據車輛設計的變化、製造流程的改進以及初始車輛工具的折舊，我們預計將降低第四季度交付的每輛車的固定成本。我們還預計第四季度 LCNRV 和確定採購承諾餘額將繼續下降。

The new technology introduced into R1 were strategically designed to benefit R2 in the long term. In addition, building the R2 in Normal, first allows us to best leverage our operations leadership team and existing manufacturing and logistics operations, and overhead costs. Because of these benefits, in addition to the significant progress we've made sourcing R2, we anticipate R2 as having a much faster path to profitability as compared to R1. While we continue to make progress on R1 cost structure in the near term, our team is focused on addressing the component shortage impacting our ability to produce Enduro motors.

R1 中引入的新技術經過戰略設計，旨在使 R2 長期受益。此外，在 Normal 中建立 R2 首先使我們能夠最好地利用我們的營運領導團隊以及現有的製造和物流運營以及間接成本。由於這些優勢，除了我們在採購 R2 方面取得的重大進展之外，我們預計 R2 比 R1 具有更快的獲利途徑。雖然我們短期內繼續在 R1 成本結構方面取得進展，但我們的團隊專注於解決影響我們生產 Enduro 馬達能力的零件短缺問題。

Due to the lack of fixed cost absorption associated with the lower 2024 volumes, we are revising guidance for our 2024 annual adjusted EBITDA to between $2.825 billion loss to a $2.875 billion loss. CapEx guidance for 2024 is unchanged at $1.2 billion.

由於缺乏與 2024 年產量下降相關的固定成本吸收，我們正在將 2024 年年度調整後 EBITDA 的指導修訂為 28.25 億美元虧損至 28.75 億美元虧損之間。 2024 年資本支出指引維持在 12 億美元不變。

Looking ahead, we are excited about the significant opportunity of our joint venture with Volkswagen Group. As RJ mentioned, the proceeds we anticipate receiving following the formation of the joint venture and certain milestones together with our $6.7 billion of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments are expected to fund Rivian's capital road map for growth with the ramp of R2 in Normal and build-out of R2 and additional variance in Georgia, taking Rivian to free cash flow positive.

展望未來，我們對與大眾集團合資企業的重大機會感到興奮。正如RJ 所提到的，我們預計在合資企業成立和某些里程碑事件後收到的收益，加上我們的67 億美元現金、現金等價物和短期投資，預計將為Rivian 的資本路線圖提供資金，以實現R2 的成長。

We are excited to share the cost savings potential milestones and other benefits upon closing, which we expect to happen this quarter. I wanted to again thank our team, partners, customers, suppliers and shareholders for their tremendous support.

我們很高興與大家分享交易完成後節省成本的潛在里程碑和其他好處，我們預計這將在本季實現。我想再次感謝我們的團隊、合作夥伴、客戶、供應商和股東的大力支持。

With that, let me turn the call back over to the operator to open the line for Q&A.

接下來，讓我將電話轉回接線生以打開問答線。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

[Emmanuel Marco] with [Wolfe Research].

[伊曼紐爾·馬可]與[沃爾夫研究]。