Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe Says Chinese Competitors Benefit From Lower Costs Amid Trump Tariffs, Defends Apple CarPlay Omission

Rivian Automotive Inc. (NASDAQ:RIVN) CEO and founder RJ Scaringe has defended his company's decision to omit Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AAPL) phone projection software CarPlay from Rivian's vehicles. He also highlighted Chinese competition and a volatile tariff environment.Rivian R2 Deliveries To Begin Next YearSpeaking on the "Decoder" podcast on Monday, Scaringe shared a comprehensive list of updates about Rivian, including a delivery timeline for the anticipated R2 midsize electric SUV. "We start deliveries in the first half of next year, which means we have to start building what we call saleable units in the early part of next year," Scaringe said.He added that the company was in the building and testing phase of the product. When asked if it could be possible by August 2026, Scaringe said, "Yeah, August, for sure."Rivian has already broken ground on the company's $5 billion Georgia manufacturing unit on September 16, with R2 production set to kick off in the year 2028. The plant could help Rivian meet its delivery targets.China's Cost BenefitWhen asked about competition from Chinese companies like BYD Co. Ltd. (OTC:BYDDY) (OTC:BYDDF), Scaringe said that they benefit from lower costs. "I think what's happened on cost is BYD has the compounding benefits of very low cost to capital, both at the OEM level and at their suppliers," Scaringe said, adding that the manufacturing units are "free or close to free."Scaringe also shared that there's an abundance of affordable labor in China as well as supplier costs, which leads to "dramatically lower-cost structures than what we have in the Western world."Trump Tariffs And US-Centric Supply ChainOn tariffs and how they affect Rivian's R2 plans, Scaringe said that "some of the changes we're seeing in trade policy do add cost, but we've had the benefit of being able to be quite plan-full around that," hailing the automaker's U.S.-centric supply chain for the R2.Scaringe did concede that some heavy rare earth metals "aren't born out of the United States," like Nickel. Scaringe says that "in certain aspects of the vehicle [Rivian R2], we've had to build cross-border trade relationships."Scaringe had earlier shared during the company's second-quarter earnings call that President Donald Trump's tariffs would add "a couple of thousand dollars per unit" to Rivian's production costs. Apple CarPlay Omission, Autonomous DrivingOn Rivian not offering CarPlay, Scaringe said that the brand remains "convicted" even at the cost of sales, adding that Rivian's AI-integrated features would take precedence over CarPlay."Everything that someone may have missed from their CarPlay experience, whether it was a mapping, or soon we're going to have a voice-to-text, is going to be there, and it'll be beautiful," He said.Interestingly, Scaringe had earlier shared his insights on the decision not to adopt CarPlay in Rivian vehicles. "You have to control the entirety of the software stack to really fully leverage right all the capabilities," Scaringe had said. Rivian could also offer some degree of autonomous driving by the year 2027, Scaringe shared. He also reiterated that LiDAR sensors could help Rivian offer autonomous driving capabilities. "Our view is that there is a real benefit to LiDAR," Scaringe said.Rivian scores well on the Momentum metric, but offers poor Growth. Rivian also boasts a favorable price trend in the Short and Long term. For more such insights, sign up for Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings today!Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link. Tesla's ‘Inflatable Aerodynamic' Patent Could Boost Cybertruck's Efficiency But Risks Reigniting Design Debate: Here's Why Photo by Michael Berlfein via Shutterstock