- Rivian delivered 42,247 vehicles in 2025, down from 51,579 the previous year.
- The startup automaker took a hit in the fourth quarter, with tax breaks on electric vehicles expiring.
- Rivian is now pinning its future on the more affordable R2, due this year, as well as improvements to its self-driving platform and a technical partnership with Volkswagen.
Tesla wasn’t the only automaker to see sales decline in 2025 with the expiration of U.S. electric vehicle tax breaks. Rivian released its full-year sales data, and while the result is in line with its expectations, it’s not a pretty picture.
Rivian on Friday certain 42,247 vehicles will be delivered in 2025, an 18% decrease from 2024 Record high From 51,579. In particular, Rivian saw a sharp decline in deliveries in the fourth quarter, with the electric startup moving 9,745 units in the final three months of 2025, compared to 13,201 units in the third quarter.
In other words, a lot of buyers rushed to secure a… Rivian R1S or R1T Before the tax break expired in late September, he then didn’t show up for the rest of the year.
Unlike Tesla and other automakers, Rivian only sells its electric cars in the United States and Canada. But the end of the $7,500 US tax credit – which also applies to any leased electric car – has hit most automakers hard. Credit has been a strong driver of both sales and rentals, and many companies, analysts and experts expect a decline in EV adoption in the latter part of 2025. This includes Rivian, which said the company’s annual deliveries were in line with its estimates.
Tesla, which operates on a much more global scale than Rivian, It announced a 9% sales decline in 2025. Chinese automaker BYD is now the global leader in electric vehicle sales.
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Source: Rivian
However, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said that in the long run, ending the tax credit could be beneficial if it forces competitors to pull back on their investments in electric vehicles. “Through Rvian’s narrow and short-sighted lens, this actually creates less competition,” Scaringe said He said In November.
The final test of this theory comes later this year with a debut 2026 Rivian R2. This electric car, a compact SUV based on an all-new platform, will be less expensive and more profitable than current R1 models. These SUVs and trucks typically sell for $80,000 to $100,000 or more. Rivian has it He claimed the R2 would start at around $45,000in spite of “Edition launch“Vehicles are likely to be more expensive.
However, the R2 is expected to be an important, big-selling electric vehicle in the long term for Rivian, just as the Model Y was for Tesla. He said scaring InsideEVs Podcasts connected just as much last year. “If you want to buy an electric car for under $50,000 today, I would say in the United States there are less than five great options.” He said intimidating. The R2 must be a promising enough product that it can attract beyond tax incentives, he said.
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Meanwhile, Rivian has some other promising irons in the fire. The startup has been given the keys to the future electrical engineering and software plans of the Volkswagen Group in the West. $6 billion joint venture deal. The company is working to enhance autonomous vehicle technology. In December, Rivian announced that a future R2 variant would include lidar technology For ultimate autonomous drivingAnd that the company has become somewhat of a competitor to Nvidia Making its own computer chips at home.
Rivian said R2 deliveries are expected to begin in the first half of 2026. Until then, the R1S and R1T will have to hold down the fort.
Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com
