Shares of the Irvine-based EV maker Rivian plunged by 7% on Wednesday’s pre-market trading session after the company returned to negative gross margins in the second quarter and raised its full-year adjusted EBITDA loss forecast.
The stock fell sharply following the earnings release, hitting a low of $11.03 — its weakest level since late April — as investors raised concerns over the company’s record cash burn and waning demand for its R1 models.
The 2025 full-year adjusted EBITDA loss guidance was increased to between $2.0 billion and $2.25 billion.
The raise represents an 18% increase from the previous quarter’s forecast of $1.8 billion to $1.9 billion.
The company expects the third quarter to be its “strongest quarter of the year,” according to founder and CEO RJ Scaringe on Tuesday’s earnings call, following the report.
“And the market, as a result, will continue to see with market share leadership on R1, we’ll continue to see demand persist,” the executive added.
The company reaffirmed its 2025 delivery guidance of 40,000—46,000, which had been lowered in the previous quarter as well, when it cited the management’s “current view of evolving trade regulations, policies and tariffs.”
The guidance suggests that Rivian expects to deliver fewer vehicles in 2025 than it did in both 2024 and 2023, raising concerns on demand.
The outlook indicates a decline from the 51,579 units delivered in 2024 and the 50,122 delivered in 2023.
The target was first reiterated last month as the company reported second quarter deliveries of 10,661 vehicles, which were down 22.7% year over year.
Rivian now expects to deliver between 20,699 and 26,699 units in the second half of 2025.
“We anticipate the third quarter to be our peak delivery quarter of the year across both our consumer and commercial vehicles,” Rivian said in its shareholder letter on Tuesday.
Regarding its current lineup, RJ Scaringe stated that demand “has been strong” for the recently launched Quad version across all its fleet.
“We do see positive movement on ASP (average selling price) for R1 through the end of the year, which is really encouraging,” Scaringe mentioned.
Chief Financial Officer Claire McDonough had stated on the previous call that the company remained “steadfast in our belief that R2 will be truly transformative for our growth and profitability.”
This Tuesday, however, the executive mentioned that the EV maker is expecting “increasing operating expenses in the second half of the year,” as it begins R2 production.
Rivian‘s cheaper model, expected to start from $45,000, will be launched in early 2026. The company intends to operate R2 “on a single shift of production” in its Normal plant from 2026.
RJ Scaringe also reaffirmed on the call that “the bill of material cost on R2 is about half that of R1,” answering a question from Barclays analyst Dan Levy.
“That’s not a hope, that’s not a wish, that’s actually contractually negotiated with suppliers,” the chief executive highlighted.
Claire McDonough stated that Rivian remained on track with its Normal plant shutdown “for approximately one month in the second half of 2025 to prepare for the launch of R2.”
In early July, the EV maker said that production was limited during the second quarter, when it manufactured 5,979 vehicles, as it was preparing to launch the 2026 iterations of both its R1T and R1S models.
McDonough further explained that the decrease was a “result of a variety of supply chain related complexities, partially driven by shifts visibility into these components for the remainder of the year.”
Despite that, the company planned to offset these challenges by expanding its Normal plant, including the development of an adjacent supplier park.
According to CEO RJ Scaringe on Tuesday’s call, the construction of the new 1.1 million square foot building, which “will house R2’s general assembly and body shop,” has been completed.
Michigan-based auto seat maker Adient will be a part of the supply park, as it announced in late July that it is investing $8 million to open a factory where Rivian‘s manufacturing plant is based.
Last month, Rivian said it will establish a new East Coast headquarter in Atlanta, Georgia, as part of its broader investment in the state.
RJ Scaringe on the previous earnings call, Rivian plans to “start construction” on its Georgia facility “next year,” which is set to “provide an additional 400,000 units of annual capacity for R2 and R3 once fully built out.”
The CEO mentioned on Tuesday that the R2 and its platform will be supporting both the United States and European markets.
“Ultimately, this platform is going to support opening up, you know, access to a very large market, which is Europe,” Scaringe added, noting that Rivian is “watching very closely” any developments to US-EU trade relations.
