Rivian CEO explains why he made ‘a very intentional effort’ not to copy Tesla’s strategy

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe spoke about Elon Musk and Tesla on the “Grit” podcast.

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe didn’t want his EV company to become Tesla 2.0.

Scaringe discussed his and Elon Musk’s automotive companies on Monday during Kleiner Perkins’ “Grit” podcast. Tesla is still a dominant player and has a leg up on Rivian, which Scaringe founded in 2009 at age 26.

Musk’s tenure as CEO of Tesla began in 2008, the same year customers first received Tesla’s Roadster sports car.

“Tesla has been absolutely inspiring,” Scaringe said during the podcast. “One of the things that was so important to me with Rivian was to make sure we weren’t covering the same ground as Tesla.”

When the host pointed out that Rivian initially followed Tesla’s playbook and had plans to create an electric sports car, Scaringe said he made an “intentional” choice to forge their own path.

“If you think about starting a car company, you want to build a brand that draws in enthusiasts,” he said.

Scaringe said he’s a fan of sports cars, so the “logical place to start is to build a sports car, use it to build the brand, and follow it with more mass-market vehicles.”

“That was, of course, how Tesla’s strategy played out, and it worked wonderfully well for them,” he said.

Scaringe added that his decision to pivot to a different type of EV product, vehicle topology, and experience was “a very intentional effort to also create a new story.”

“Not only for us as a company or a brand but, importantly, to help shift more mindsets around what sustainable transportation could look like,” he said.

Representatives for Rivian and Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from B-17.

Rivian currently sells the R1S SUV and the R1T pickup truck. Scaringe announced two more vehicles on the way — the R2 SUV and the R3 SUV — in March.

The EV industry experienced a slowdown in sales and growth this summer. In July, Scaringe told The Verge he thinks the issue is a “truly extreme lack of choice.”

“If you want to spend less than $50,000 for an EV, I’d say there’s a very, very small number of great products,” he said.