Rivian CEO says buying an EV isn’t a political choice

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe told Fortune Brainstorm AI that he doesn’t believe buying an electric vehicle is “political.”

Transcript

00:00The other thing that I think is a misconception is the perception that electrification is as politicized as it is.

00:08Right, which I started with. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:09And ultimately, barring maybe a very small percentage of buyers,

00:16most customers are buying the products based upon how it fits their needs.

00:20Is it exciting? Are you attracted to the product? Does it draw you in?

00:23Does the brand positioning resonate with you? Do the features answer needs that you have?

00:28Is it worth the money?

00:28Is it worth the money? All these types of questions.

00:30And so we have the data now on what the mix of our R1 customers looks like.

00:36And it's about a 50-50 split between people that identify as Republicans and people that identify as Democrats.

00:42And I think that's extraordinarily powerful news for us to recognize that this isn't just left-leaning buyers.

00:50These are people that are saying, I like the idea of this product. I'm excited about it.

00:54And this is thousands and thousands of customers.

00:57This is statistically relevant information.