Feb 28 (Reuters) – Rivian Automotive Inc (RIVN.O) on Tuesday forecast 2023 production well below analysts’ estimates as it grapples with lingering supply chain bottlenecks, and announced a recall of more than 12,700 vehicles.

Rivian said its recall announcement, its third since going public in Nov. 2021, was due to an issue with a sensor in the front passenger seat-belt system. However, the company believes fewer than 100 vehicles will require the part to be replaced.

In October, it recalled about 13,000 cars due to a potential issue that could cause a driver to lose control of the steering.

The company said it is targeting production of 50,000 cars this year, compared with analysts’ estimate of 67,170 units, according to Visible Alpha.

« We expect supply chain challenges to persist into 2023 but with better predictability relative to what was experienced in 2022, » the company said in a shareholder letter on Tuesday.

The Irvine, California-based company also reported lower-than-expected fourth quarter revenue as the electric-vehicle firm delivered far fewer vehicles than it produced.

Rivian produced 24,337 vehicles in 2022, slightly short of its target of 25,000 units. However, it delivered only 20,332 cars last year.

Revenue for the quarter ended December 31, stood at $663 million, compared with analysts’ estimate of $742.4 million, according to Refinitiv data.

The company reported fourth-quarter net loss of $1.72 billion, or $1.87 per share, compared with $2.46 billion, or $4.83 per share, a year earlier.

Rivian reported cash and cash equivalents of $11.57 billion, down from $13.27 billion at the end of the preceding quarter.

Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri

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