There are rumors swirling that Apple is going to buy Rivian, the electric carmaker of the R1 truck and SUV, and the upcoming R2 and R3 vehicles that are smaller versions.
Apple Rumored To Be Buying Rivian
According to Gali on X, Matty Mogul, Tesla Podcast, and Jfilche were having a Tesla Money Mafia group chat and a discussion surfaced on Apple buying Rivian. The big question is - does Apple have any intention to do this?
Rivian had a big day today, revealing their upcoming R2 and R3 vehicles, which are essentially smaller versions of their R1 SUV. Rivian stock popped up 15% on the news.
As always, rumors should be taken with a grain of salt, however, let's take a look at what would happen and what the repercussions would be if Apple did indeed decide to buy Rivian.
First off, Apple has already spent many years and billions of dollars on its Apple Car over the last decade and now that Rivian is worth about $12 billion in market cap, Apple could spend that amount to buy it.
But, why didn't Apple just wait to buy someone instead of wasting billions of dollars on its Apple Car project, which it cancelled? Even better, why didn't Apple just buy Tesla when Tesla was at a $60 billion valuation?
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What Will Happen If Apple Buys Rivian?
The primary advantage of Apple buying Rivian is the integration of Apple software into Rivian cars. However, this can occur already without Apple buying Rivian. What Apple gets if it buys Rivian is any upside in growth and probably more control over the customization of its software.
However, Rivian lacks the miles of real-world range to real make a dent in the autonomous world and will have to stick to driver assist software programs on the freeway only, which is what most other automakers are doing - except Tesla.
Tesla has the real-world miles and AI software development to actually make a car drive itself everywhere, and FSD version 12 is showing just that and is a step-up improvement from version 11.
Rivian has one thing going for it - it is making and releasing actual products to customers and reporting earnings. The fact that customers love their Rivian cars is a good sign. However, Rivian is burning cash at an astounding rate and will run out in a year and a half without extra funding...
Would this be a threat to Tesla is Apple bought Rivian? I don't think so. Tesla's competitive advantage is in manufacturing and AI, which requires years of expertise and billions upon billions - and eventual trillions of miles of real-world data. Rivian won't have that for a LONG time.
I still don't see Apple buying Rivian, despite the rumors. Rivian and its manufacturing are outside the core competency of Apple. Now, if Apple believed Rivian would grow 20x in 10 years or something like that and decided just to invest in them, that would make sense to me... Other than that, I think these are just rumors.
A better question is - what do you think about this scenario? Will Apple buy Rivian?
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Hi! I'm Jeremy Noel Johnson, and I am a Tesla investor and supporter and own a 2022 Model 3 RWD EV and I don't have range anxiety :). I enjoy bringing you breaking Tesla news as well as anything about Tesla or other EV companies I can find, like Aptera. Other interests of mine are AI, Tesla Energy and the Tesla Bot! You can follow me on X.COM or LinkedIn to stay in touch and follow my Tesla and EV news coverage.
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Article Reference: Gfilche (Gali) on X