EV maker Rivian sees stable demand through the year - CFO

(Reuters) -Electric vehicle maker Rivian Automotive expects demand for its pickups and sport-utility vehicles to remain stable through the year, it's finance chief said, even as higher borrowing costs and fears of recession have dented demand across the industry.

Rivian shares were up 4% at $15.33 late Thursday afternoon.

Rivian is also ramping up production of its in-house drive unit ahead of plan, Chief Financial Officer Claire McDonough said on Thursday at the Deutsche Bank auto conference.

The Irvine, California-based startup, which makes R1T pickup trucks and R1S SUVs, has been developing its own drive unit to lower costs and reduce dependency on suppliers.

"We certainly have seen some impacts of the broader macroeconomic environment in 2023," McDonough said. "But we've seen really a stable environment throughout the course of this year from a demand vantage point.

"Our priority right now is ramping production and driving down costs so that we're starting to really reduce the level of cash burn within the business," McDonough said.

Cutting costs is key for Rivian and its peers, which have been grappling with a cash crunch at a time when market leader Tesla has slashed prices to stoke demand.

Rivian in February decided to lay off 6% of its workforce and last month stood by its annual production forecast of 50,000 cars.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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