Shares of the electric vehicle maker Rivian fell nearly 9% in the first minutes of Thursday’s trading session, after the company trimmed for the second time this year its annual delivery guidance.
The company founded and led by RJ Scaringe reported earlier this Thursday that it delivered 13,201 vehicles in Q3, beating Wall Street expectations.
Despite that, demand concerns remain, as the company now says it expects to deliver between 41,500 and 43,500 vehicles this year, narrowing the previous range of 40,000-46,000 units.
In February, when reporting its financial results for the final quarter of 2024, Rivian said it “expected to deliver between 46,000 and 51,000 vehicles in 2025.”
The target was reaffirmed in early April while disclosing first quarter deliveries of 8,640 vehicles.
However, a month later, the company cut its annual delivery outlook to a range of 40,000-46,000 vehicles.
By then, Rivian said that the revised target represented “management’s current view on evolving trade regulation, policies, tariffs and the overall impact these items may have on consumer sentiment and demand.”
Despite having reaffirmed the guidance in early August and in mid-September —speaking with Cantor Fitzgerald — the EV maker expects now to sell between 6,000 and 7,500 fewer vehicles.
In 2023, Rivian delivered 50,122 EVs while 2024 figures slightly increased to 51,579 units.
The brand has delivered 32,502 EVs in the first nine months of the year.
To meet its annual guidance, it now needs to deliver between 8,998 and 10,998 vehicles in the final quarter.
The guidance suggests that Rivian does not expect fourth-quarter deliveries, when auto sales usually increase, to be above the third quarter, as the EV tax credit won’t be anymore in place.
despite the last months of the year typically representing higher sales in the auto industry.
In July, RJ Scaringe had stated that they expected the third quarter to be the “strongest” period of 2025 for the brand.
“As we look at the remainder of this quarter, Q3, we do think Q3 will be our strongest quarter of the year,” Scaringe stated.
Rivian is preparing to start production of the R2 SUV — a more affordable model, which will have an entry-level trim starting at $45,000.
Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Andres Sheppard noted last month that he expects “Rivian to first launch with a higher trim version initially,” after he spoke with McDonough.
Despite being up 26% over the last twelve months, Rivian shares have dropped more than 13% in the last five days.
