Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe discusses the affect of import price lists on ‘The Claman Countdown.’
Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe on Tuesday mentioned the Trump management’s price lists and the way the electrical car (EV) maker is navigating them all over an look on “The Claman Countdown.”
Scaringe informed host Liz Claman that buyers have a “lot of questions” about “what’s going to happen” with the pricing and availability of cars within the U.S. amid President Donald Trump’s price lists and that Rivian is “trying to navigate that as thoughtfully as we can.”
The president introduced 25% price lists on imported passenger cars, shiny vehicles and likely key auto portions past due endmost past. They’re amongst many levies on imports Trump has unveiled since going back on workplace, together with the ones on metal and aluminum, in addition to reciprocal price lists.
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Electrical-vehicle startup Rivian Car Inc. is suing a key provider of seats, blackmail {that a} pricing dispute may affect manufacturing of an electrical van ordered through Amazon.com Inc. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)
Scaringe stated that Rivian’s EVs, together with the second-generation R1S that he gave the impression beside all over “The Claman Countdown,” are manufactured at its facility in Commonplace, Illinois.
“We’ve been very focused on building out our supply chain, of course, our production footprint here in the U.S. and, of course, all the technology is developed here as well,” he informed Claman.
Requested about the place Rivian’s metal and aluminum comes from, Scaringe stated it was once “a mix.”
“One of the things with automotive is the supply chain is so complex, where we have hundreds of suppliers providing parts from, say, a headlight or a tow hook or tires or the structure under the skin here that are coming from not only a set of suppliers that supply to us, but those suppliers have suppliers, and then in turn, those suppliers have suppliers, so there’s tier two, tier three,” he defined. “So in our case, it is a mix. Given the new environment from a tariff point of view, we’re working really hard to see what we can change, but they’re difficult to change.”
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He said that Rivian isn’t solely escaping Trump’s price lists however stated the EV maker has a “very U.S.-centric supply chain.”
RJ Scaringe at Featured Consultation “The Moment We’re In: Transitioning How We Move, Think and Change The Planet” all over SXSW Convention & Gala’s at Hilton Austin Downtown on March 11, 2025 in Austin, Texas. (Amy E. Worth/SXSW Convention & Gala’s by way of Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)
“We build the big pieces all here,” he informed Claman, bringing up the motors and battery as examples. “We developed the software stack, the electronics, but there are a lot of components that come from a global supply chain.”
Scaringe stated “there’s a tremendous amount of content that’s coming from suppliers that are both in the U.S. but also suppliers who are elsewhere” moment taking a look throughout the R1S with Claman.
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Throughout the interview, she additionally famous that Rivian is increasing its plant in Illinois and requested Scaringe whether or not he have been in contact with the White Area, which has been pushing to spice up production within the U.S. with price lists and alternative measures.
“When we think about the tariffs, of course the 25% auto tariff hits everybody,” he stated. “We do rely on a supply chain that across its tiers has a number of components that come from other countries and then, importantly, the trade restrictions and what we’re seeing in terms of rare earth metals out of China, that’s a real challenge for electric vehicles.”
China lately imposed restrictions at the exportation of positive infrequent earth metals and magnets from its nation.
Employees develop second-generation R1 cars at electrical auto maker Rivian’s production facility in Commonplace, Illinois, on June 21, 2024. (Reuters/Joel Angel Juarez/Record Picture / Reuters)
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“Essentially every electric car on the road today is using what’s called a permanent magnet motor,” Scaringe defined, noting such magnets “generally use some type of rare earth metal.”
He stated the rare-earth metals will also be discovered in lots of playgrounds globally however “in terms of the processing of the materials, that happens almost exclusively in China.”
Scaringe additionally talked in regards to the EV trade and what’s had to building up its proportion of the U.S. car marketplace. EVs made up 8.1% of auto gross sales within the U.S. in 2024, in keeping with Cox Car.
“I think a huge part of this is giving customers choice,” he stated. “If you’re looking at buying an electric vehicle for under $50,000 today, there’s really very, very few highly compelling choices. And for that reason, you’ve seen Tesla with very significant market share for a long time now, over 50% of the market share, and that’s actually a reflection of limited grade choices. And so what we need to see to go from 8% to 15 to 20 to eventually 100% of vehicle sales being electric, a lot of choice.”
| Ticker | Safety | Extreme | Trade | Trade % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RIVN | RIVIAN AUTOMOTIVE INC. | 11.91 | -0.12 | -1.00% |
He stated there must be “different form factors, different features, different brands and styling and aesthetic treatments to what a car looks like” amongst EVs.
Rivian recently makes the R1S SUV, R1T pickup truck and business electrical vehicles. It additionally has the R2 and R3 within the pipeline.
