Electric vehicle (EV) maker Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN) is among the stocks in focus today for many growth investors. RIVN stock is down around 1% in early afternoon trading. Earlier this week, the company’s CEO made some comments that are raising eyebrows.

At the Code Conference on Tuesday, CEO RJ Scaringe indicated that he’s not worried about Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) upcoming Cybertruck release. He said, “If you were to think of the Venn diagrams with customers, there’s probably not a lot of overlap … But I think it’s great that a product like that exists in the world. If we truly want to electrify everything that’s produced — to give us some scale — there’s one and a half billion cars on the planet, and we as a planet produce 90 million a year.”

These comments certainly provide investors with an interesting take on what could be an ultra-competitive space. Rivian’s trucks are certainly on the higher end of the price and quality spectrum, with market competition at the lower and middle tiers of the market coming from the likes of Ford (NYSE:F) and General Motors (NYSE:GM). Let’s dive into whether investors should view Rivian’s vehicles as completely differentiated from the competition right now.

RIVN Stock Sinks as Investors Debate Impacts of Competition

Out of Rivian’s closest competitors in terms of price, technology, and quality, Tesla is probably the closest comparable. Thus, with the Cybertruck seeing more than 2 million preorders, it’s seems likely that some demand for Rivian trucks may leak over to the competition. Other consumers may wait on the sidelines to compare and contrast.

While I certainly agree that the so-called “Venn diagram” of truck buyers likely doesn’t overlap a lot across the two models, that’s not to say that future iterations of the Cybertruck won’t appeal to Rivian buyers. If the Cybertruck is able to compete on the basis if performance and interior quality, maybe truck buyers can overlook the rather futuristic look of the Cybertruck’s exterior. Maybe I’m grasping, but I think that’s what many Rivian bears are concerned about.

The reality for Rivian is that competition is likely to only heat up. Pickup trucks continue to make up a significant percentage of the overall U.S. automobile market. Tesla, Ford, GM and many other entrants are likely to continue chipping away at making their slice of the pie bigger. If cost-cutting takes hold, and a race to the bottom ensues, the question then becomes how long Rivian can hold out to achieve profitability.