{"id":9860,"date":"2026-06-30T09:38:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T09:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=9860"},"modified":"2026-06-30T09:38:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T09:38:40","slug":"why-rivian-ceo-rj-scaringe-wants-his-ev-company-to-be-compared-to-apple-not-tesla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=9860","title":{"rendered":"Why Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe wants his EV company to be compared to Apple, not Tesla"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Good morning.<\/strong> While sitting in the Rivian R2 electric SUV at the Aspen Ideas Festival this weekend, CEO RJ Scaringe opened a glove box and pointed to the felt lining. \u201cThat cost $11,\u201d he said. Is that expensive or cheap? Perhaps sensing my neutrality, Scaringe pulled out his phone to show me a review by an auto writer who wants to buy an R2 when sales start next year and thinks it could be America\u2019s next great SUV. \u201cThat\u2019s the reaction we want,\u201d he told me. \u201cWe had to get this right and we\u2019re happy that people are loving it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

I don\u2019t know if R2 will be a hit, but it\u2019s a testament to the resilience of Rivian\u2019s founder. Scaringe launched the EV company in 2009, one day after getting a PhD from MIT in making combustion engines cleaner. (He studied them to kill them and thought a PhD would help attract investors.)<\/p>\n

It took nine years to unveil his first products\u2014a pickup truck and a large SUV. In 2021, Rivian had the biggest IPO of the year, raising almost $12 billion to start production. Investor Amazon has partnered on electric delivery vans, with 30,000 on U.S. roads and plans to have 100,000 in service by 2030. There\u2019s also a $5.8 billion joint venture with Volkswagen to create software-designed vehicle architecture and a deal with Uber to build 50,000 robotaxis. And Rivian is on Fortune\u2019s<\/em> 2026 ranking of America\u2019s Most Innovative Companies.<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s been a rough 17-year ride, with a scrapped sports coupe, supply shortages, software bugs, price hikes and optimistic promises that led to Rivian paying $250 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit. R2 is the third try at getting this vehicle right. With losses shrinking but still in the billions, the stock is 88% below its debut price of $130. \u201cFor any entrepreneur who\u2019s building a complex business, you have to be comfortable being misunderstood for a while,\u201d Scaringe told me. \u201cPatience and having a good signal-to-noise filter is important. If I got dropped into my role now without those previous experiences, the noise would be so overwhelming. I\u2019ve had people say this is a horrible idea, you\u2019re wasting your brain. Part of the founder\u2019s journey is rejection and building resilience to being misunderstood.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a man who delivered his first two trucks while they were still prototypes to actors Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman when they wanted to take an all-electric journey from Patagonia to LA for their 2019 TV series, Long Way Up<\/em>. \u201cNobody was ready for that trip,\u201d he said of the ambitious 13,000-mile journey. \u201cBut that\u2019s kind of what it is. You just keep going.\u201d Scaringe doesn\u2019t fret about China, saying his technology is as good as its top five EV makers though he can\u2019t compete on the cost of labor. And he doesn\u2019t think much about \u201cvery vocal\u201d Elon Musk, saying, \u201cwe probably couldn\u2019t be more different in terms of the way we show up to the world.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

The same could be said of their companies as Tesla has about 17 times the revenue of Rivian and 75 times the market cap, not to mention almost 10 times the cash and healthy profits. But Scaringe is playing the long game. He hopes Rivian will one day be compared not to Tesla but to Nike or Apple. \u201cI hope the brand means more than the products,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope the product inspires people to do the things they love.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com<\/em><\/p>\n

Top leadership news<\/h3>\n

Ford rehires engineers after AI falls short<\/b><\/p>\n

Ford <\/span>quietly hired 350 veteran engineers<\/span> over the past three years after automated quality systems failed to catch defects, costing the automaker billions in warranty and recall costs. CEO Jim Farley credited the rehires with generating “hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of a tailwind for Ford on cost,\u201d he told Bloomberg TV.<\/span><\/p>\n

Target’s new attendance point system<\/b><\/p>\n

Target will start <\/span>tracking<\/span> unexcused tardiness and absences for its store and warehouse workers in September, assigning point values to violations and terminating any employee who hits 12 points within a year. The policy follows similar moves by Walmart and Amazon and comes as new CEO Michael Fiddelke pushes to improve store operations after four straight quarters of declining comparable sales.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Supreme Court upholds Fed independence<\/b><\/p>\n

The Supreme Court <\/span>ruled<\/span> Monday that President Donald Trump was wrong to try firing Fed Governor Lisa Cook without due process, reaffirming the Fed’s independence from the White House. \u201cUnder our precedents, Cook was entitled to notice and some opportunity to respond prior to her termination,\u201d Chief Justice Roberts wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n

The markets<\/h3>\n

S&P 500<\/b> futures are up 0.06% this morning. The last session closed up 1.18%. <\/span>The<\/b> STOXX Europe 600<\/b> was up 0.56% in early trading. <\/span>The U.K.\u2019s FTSE 100<\/b> was up 0.35% in early trading.<\/span> Japan\u2019s Nikkei 225 <\/b>was up 0.86%.<\/span> South Korea\u2019s KOSPI <\/b>was<\/span> up 0.97% today. <\/span>China\u2019s CSI 300 <\/b>was up 1.07%.<\/span> Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng <\/b>was down 0.63%.<\/span> India\u2019s NIFTY 50 <\/b>was down 0.02%. <\/span>Bitcoin<\/b> was down at $59K.<\/span><\/p>\n

Around the watercooler<\/h3>\n

The most reassuring argument about AI and jobs quietly explains why Gen Z can\u2019t get one<\/span> by Nick Lichtenberg<\/span><\/p>\n

This summer\u2019s heat is a live stress test for data centers\u2014here\u2019s what it\u2019s revealing in real time<\/span> by Tristan Bove<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Cop on your wrist\u2019\u2014 Wearables offer tons of data but people are still going to sleep to Netflix and TikTok<\/span> by Amanda Gerut<\/span><\/p>\n

Strategy may sell up to $1.25 billion in Bitcoin to calm investor jitters<\/span> by Camila Grigera Na\u00f3n<\/span><\/p>\n

Dave Portnoy quit an $80K sales job to start Barstool\u2014he hand-delivered papers in a secondhand van while living with his girlfriend\u2019s mom for 6 years<\/span> by Preston Fore<\/span><\/p>\n

CEO Daily is curated and edited by Joseph Abrams, Jason Ma, Claire Zillman, and Lee Clifford.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#Rivian #CEO #Scaringe #company #compared #Apple #Tesla<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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