Rivian cuts 2025 delivery target, ups expected spending amid tariff pressures

Rivian Automotive on Tuesday beat Wall Street’s expectations for the first quarter and confirmed its 2025 earnings targets, but negatively adjusted its 2025 targets for vehicle deliveries and capital spending amid President Donald Trump‘s tariffs.

The all-electric vehicle manufacturer said it is “not immune to the impacts of the global trade and economic environment,” despite producing all of its trucks and SUVs in the U.S. at a factory in Illinois.

“The current global economic landscape presents significant uncertainty, particularly regarding evolving trade regulation, policies, tariffs, and the overall impact these items may have on consumer sentiment and demand,” the company said in its quarterly letter to shareholders.

Rivian CFO Claire McDonough said the company is expected to incur “a couple thousand dollars” in additional expenses per vehicle as a result of tariffs, which include 25% on imported auto parts that don’t comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.

Rivian’s new guidance includes deliveries of between 40,000 units and 46,000 units, down from a range of 46,000 units to 51,000 units, and capital expenditures of between $1.8 billion and $1.9 billion, up from previous guidance of between $1.6 billion and $1.7 billion.

Rivian reconfirmed plans to achieve a “modest positive gross profit” this year, as well as $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion in losses on an adjusted basis before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization after its first-quarter results topped Wall Street’s expectations.

Here’s how the company performed in the first quarter, compared with average estimates compiled by LSEG:

• Loss per share: 41 cents vs. a loss of 76 cents expected
• Revenue: $1.24 billion vs. $1.01 billion expected

Notably, the automaker achieved its second consecutive quarter of gross profit during the first quarter — unlocking an expected $1 billion from Volkswagen Group as part of its investment in Rivian following the formation of their joint venture — Rivian and VW Group Technology LLC.

Rivian recorded a gross profit, which includes production and sales but does not factor in other expenses, of $206 million during the first quarter. That compares with $170 million during the fourth quarter.

The joint venture was announced last year as part of a $5.8 billion deal that includes funding for Rivian and VW utilizing the EV maker’s software and electrical architecture.

Rivian said it ended the first quarter with $8.5 billion in liquidity, including $7.2 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments.

The company’s first-quarter results were helped by an increase in sales of automotive regulatory credits of $157 million (roughly half of the $300 million expected for the full year), as well as an increase in software and services revenues of $318 million compared with $88 million a year earlier.

On an unadjusted basis, Rivian narrowed its losses to $541 million during the first quarter. That compares to roughly $1.5 billion a year earlier and $743 million during the fourth quarter.

Rivian produced 14,611 of its electric delivery vans and “R1” SUVs and pickup trucks during the first quarter. It delivered 8,640 vehicles during that period.

The automaker reconfirmed Tuesday that production is expected to be lower during the second half of the year as Rivian idles and retools its Illinois plant for roughly a month in preparation for its new “R2” product.

The smaller, $45,000 SUV is expected to enter production during the first half of next year. Rivian is banking on the less-expensive R2 to reinvigorate demand.

Rivian’s results compare to EV rival Lucid Group, which reported mixed first-quarter results Tuesday, while reconfirming its 2025 production guidance of roughly 20,000 vehicles and capital expenditures of $1.4 billion.

Lucid reported a loss of 20 cents per share vs. an expected loss of 23 cents, according to LSEG estimates, and revenue of $235 million vs. an expected $249 million.