The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday edition that there was a time when throwing cash at Rivian Automotive and Lucid Group was a good idea. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post says that now, however, investors have all but thrown in the towel on the shares. All it took was a fresh dose of reality from the two companies last week around cooling demand for electric vehicles. Rivian, which makes electric pickups, SUVs and delivery vans and counts Amazon as its top shareholder, said its production will stay flat at last year's levels. It also announced plans to shrink its work force again. Lucid, majority-owned by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, projected only a slight increase in output over 2023. Both forecasts fell far short of analysts' expectations. For investors, the sense of gloom has been building since October, when Tesla warned of sagging demand for EVs. The impact this had on smaller rivals such as Rivian and Lucid has been nothing short of disastrous. "If you are a hypergrowth company in what is seen as a disruptive industry and you are not growing your top line, you are in trouble," said David Mazza at Roundhill Investments. Rivian shares are down by about 44 per cent since Tesla's October warning.