New American Automakers

[Coldjensens]

Lucid is Saudi Arabian Royal Family, not an American automaker. They have plenty of available funding. They are also the only offering their Niche market. The problem is that their niche market is very small. They are never going to be a huge company.



Rivian is backed by Ford and by Amazon. Eventually they will get bought and merged or just become an Amazon delivery vehicle maker.



Most of the others will get bought by bigger companies or they will merge together in order to compete with the big guys. None of them are likely to be around in their current from by the end of the 20s.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Lucid is Saudi Arabian Royal Family, not an American automaker. They have plenty of available funding. They are also the only offering their Niche market. The problem is that their niche market is very small. They are never going to be a huge company.



Rivian is backed by Ford and by Amazon. Eventually they will get bought and merged or just become an Amazon delivery vehicle maker.



Most of the others will get bought by bigger companies or they will merge together in order to compete with the big guys. None of them are likely to be around in their current from by the end of the 20s.

Lucid's majority shareholder is from a Saudi holding company, that's definitely true. However, there are other major shareholders including some based in the US and the corporate and operational headquarters are in the US as is its current only factory.

That last part should probably qualify, but it is an interesting line of inquiry. I've said tongue in cheek before that the Big 3 American automakers at this point are Ford, GM, and Tesla. That's because Chrysler isn't just majority shares owned by stakes outside of the US, but it also doesn't even really exist anymore. It was merged with Fiat as very much a junior partner and then this larger merger of that company with PSA to form Stellantis means an even greater dilution of US ownership and operates under a name that has no connection to the arguably formerly American company.

It's possible Amazon buys more of or buys outright Rivian or another automaker since it's a very large company. I suppose that would make Amazon a new American automaker. It does seem like Rivian's doing quite well so it does seem like it could be an attractive acquisition.

[OyCrumbler]

Quick update:

Fisker Automotive is running into financial issues https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/comp...re/ar-BB1kvCDD

Rivian has announced upcoming vehicles including a surprise R3 and R3X vehicles https://www.carscoops.com/2024/03/th...tter-up-close/ Rivian also recently snagged a new commercial van client this time with its van chassis as the underlying platform for a vehicle that looks quite unlike its Amazon delivery van https://electrek.co/2024/03/13/after...-with-next-ev/

Lucid just netted a new $1 billion dollar investment which should help bridge things to its upcoming Lucid Gravity SUV https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ev...ement-22de7d44

Canoo is somehow still around and has purchased assets from mostly defunct UK automaker Arrival https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/othe...al/ar-BB1kujrt and prior to that its facilities in Oklahoma has successfully been designated a FTZ https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mark...ok/ar-BB1k6vyS

This is still some very wild west times for automotive startups in the US. Tesla isn't in this poll, because it's pretty apparent that it's not going away anytime soon, but there's been a lot of other automotive startups that have fallen by the wayside. Automaking is an incredibly difficult and expensive industry to get into, so it's remarkable that there are still some that not only have survived thus far, but are actually in mass production of vehicles. It'll be interesting to see where they go from here.