If You Thought Tesla’s Q1 Was Bad Rivian’s Was Worse
First-quarter deliveries fell 36 percent year-over-year, highlighting continued challenges for emerging EV manufacturers
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by John Halas
Rivian’s Q1 deliveries fell 36 percent year-over-year, with just 8,640 vehicles delivered.
The brand expects up to 51,000 deliveries in 2025, slightly below last year’s total.
Its stock fell nearly 4 percent after it announced its latest quarterly sales report.
If you thought Tesla was having a rough start to the year, Rivian’s first quarter might make you reevaluate what “rough” really means. The EV startup produced 14,611 units of the R1S and R1T models at its Normal, Illinois facility in the first three months of 2025, delivering just 8,640 of them. That’s a 36 percent drop compared to the same period last year, when it managed to get 13,588 vehicles into customer hands.
More: Dodge Sold More Old Challengers And Chargers Than New Daytona EVs In Q1
By comparison, Tesla reported a 13 percent year-over-year dip in Q1 deliveries, sliding to 336,000 units, its softest quarter in nearly three years. The company is still navigating a long list of distractions, including global protests tied to its high-profile, frequently polarizing CEO and ongoing delays in the North American launch of the refreshed Model Y “Juniper.”
Rivian’s numbers, though discouraging, didn’t catch anyone off guard. The company had already projected around 14,000 vehicles built and 8,000 delivered for the quarter—and analysts were more or less on the same page.
For a little perspective, General Motors moved 7,111 electric trucks in Q1 across its various sub-brands. That includes 2,383 Silverado EVs (a 125 percent jump from Q1 2024) plus 1,249 GMC Sierra EVs and 3,479 Hummer EVs, split between SUV and pickup models. Ford’s F-150 Lightning fared slightly better with 7,187 deliveries, though that figure marked a 7 percent decline from a year ago.
Photo Stephen Rivers / Carscoops
Despite the sales slump, Rivian had at least one encouraging headline during the first quarter: the R1S made it into the top five best-selling EVs in the U.S. in February.
What Rivian Expects Next
Looking ahead, Rivian still expects to deliver between 46,000 and 51,000 vehicles in 2025, which would fall slightly short of the 51,579 it delivered last year. Financially, the company projects an adjusted loss of $1.7 to $1.9 billion for 2025, which would mark an improvement over its $2.69 billion loss last year.
Market reaction wasn’t great. Rivian stock dropped about 4 percent following the earnings release, landing at $12.74. As of publishing, the stock is down 4.11 percent year to date.
On the production side, Rivian is in the process of upgrading its Illinois plant in preparation for the upcoming mid-size R2 SUV, expected to arrive in the first half of 2026. That’ll be followed by the smaller, more affordable R3 sometime in 2027. The hope is that these next-generation models will push Rivian closer to profitability or at least make future earnings reports a little less grim.
The upcoming Rivian R2 mid-size electric crossover.
