Rivian is now valued at $142.08 billion
Volkswagen is currently valued at $139.52 billion
The two most valuable automakers are Tesla and Toyota
Rivian is a very young company compared to other automakers but this hasn’t prevented it from becoming the third most valuable automaker in the world only weeks after its first vehicle was produced.
Rivian, which only went public recently, has now surpassed the valuation of Volkswagen and has become the third most valuable automaker in the world behind Tesla ($1.046 trillion) and Toyota ($262.54 billion).
Valuation of automakers, specifically the ones that specialise in electric vehicles have gone up astronomically in the last few years, with Tesla becoming the very first automaker to overtake the $1 trillion mark in 2020 after a 700% increase in its share prices.
This is caused by a huge interest in the market towards start up EV makers that have a product that is likely to generate a lot of consumer interest.
Rivian is often touted as being the “new Tesla” due to its similar approach to vehicle development and its R1T electric pickup that has many interesting features.
This has made Rivian the third most valuable automaker in the world after only five days of trading on the NASDAQ and a couple hundred deliveries of its first vehicle ever produced.
The company was also helped in this feat by its backing by Amazon, the most valuable company on earth, which owns about 20% of the automaker.
Share prices for Rivian were expected to trade for $78 USD each, but they actually began trading at $120 USD, an increase of over 60% before the market was even opened.
Legacy automakers are claiming that these EV start-ups are valued too high given their production figures, but only the future will tell if the market will readjust towards a better equilibrium between the competing companies.