This past Friday morning, electric cat company Rivian was forced to announce a recall afflicting almost every single vehicle the electric car company has delivered to its customer base.
This particular venture, which sports partial owners such as Ford and Amazon, was issued a total of seven reports potentially related to a worryingly loose fastener that connected the front upper control arm and steering knuckle of the car, which has the chance of affecting the ability to control the car of the driver. The cost of shares for Rivian has dropped by just over 10% as of Monday due to the sweeping recall announcements.
“If you experience excessive noise, vibration or harshness from the front suspension, or a change in steering performance or feel, you should call immediately,” expressed Rivian CEO R.J. Scaringe via a letter issued to the owners of the various recalled vehicles which was obtained by members of NBC News. The company currently does not think it will be slammed with salient costs due to the recall, due to the fact that the fix only takes a few minutes per car to fix, and thinks that it will be able to complete all recall repairs in just over a month if the customer base cooperates with them.
While continually taking strides to “shift consumer mindsets” about climate change and “inspire other companies to fundamentally change the way they operate,” Rivian currently attaches a price tag to its R1T truck and the R1S SUV for $73,000 and $78,000 respectively, as reported by its website. The company has taken part in the Climate Pledge, under which the signing companies promise to go after a target of net-zero carbon emissions by as soon as 2040, and it is attempting to reach the goal over a decade ahead of the set schedule.
The electric vehicle manufacturer joined many other tech companies, such as its top competitor Tesla, in cutting a large section of its employees due to recent macroeconomic pressures.
“Over the last six months, the world has dramatically changed with inflation reaching record highs, interest rates rapidly rising and commodity prices continuing to climb — all of which have contributed to the global capital markets tightening,” expressed Scaringe via an email which was obtained by TechCrunch this year. “We are financially well positioned and our mission is more important than ever, but to fully realize our potential, our strategy must support our sustainable growth as we ramp toward profitability.”
This current recall takes place as both federal and state regulators have been trying to kick off new incentives for the owning of electric cars. A recent set of guidelines coming from the California Air Resources Board ordered that a total of 35% of all new cars for the state must hit a zero emissions mark by 2026 and work its way up to 100% by 2035.
