Rivian's third-quarter revenue rises 38% to $2.16 billion as R2 takes the lead

Rivian says its revenue rose 38 percent from a year earlier to $2.155 billion in the third quarter of 2026, and that its smaller R2 sport-utility vehicle was its best seller for the first time. In its results release on 29 October, the company reports 19,248 deliveries, up 46 percent, and 19,751 vehicles built at its plant in Normal, Illinois. It says the R2 outsold both the R1 line and its electric delivery van in the quarter, and that it has added a second production shift for the R2.

The company still lost money. Rivian reports a net loss of $913 million, compared with $1.173 billion a year earlier, and an operating loss of $881 million. Its adjusted loss before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation, a measure the company defines itself, was $435 million, against $602 million a year before.

CNBC reports that the results beat Wall Street expectations. It says Rivian's adjusted loss was 48 cents a share, against the 62 cents analysts expected. The 48-cent figure matches the adjusted net loss per share in the company's release.

Where the revenue came from

Rivian splits its business into vehicles and a software and services segment. It says automotive revenue was $1.550 billion, which includes $81 million from regulatory credits, the credits automakers sell to rivals that need them to meet emissions rules.

AI-generated

Software and services revenue rose 45 percent to $605 million. Rivian says $354 million of that, or 59 percent, came from its joint venture with Volkswagen Group, which develops vehicle software and electrical architecture. That segment made a gross profit of $256 million, a 42 percent margin, according to the release.

Across the whole company, Rivian reports a gross profit of $176 million. The vehicle side on its own still lost money at the gross level: an automotive gross loss of $80 million, narrower than the $130 million loss a year earlier. Rivian says the quarter carried about $120 million of costs tied to ramping up R2 production. In its shareholder letter filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company says automotive cost of goods sold per vehicle improved by more than $12,000 from the second quarter.

Cash and the Volkswagen loan

Rivian says it spent $366 million on capital projects in the quarter and that free cash flow was negative $1.124 billion. It ended September with $5.502 billion in cash and equivalents and total liquidity of $6.095 billion. The company says that figure would be $7.095 billion on a pro forma basis, counting a $1 billion loan from Volkswagen that it received in October.

A higher floor on deliveries

Rivian now expects to deliver between 67,000 and 70,000 vehicles in 2026. The previous range was 65,000 to 70,000, so the company has raised the bottom of the range and kept the top.

AI-generated

It also says it expects an adjusted loss before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation of $1.75 billion to $1.85 billion for the year. Rivian describes that as $100 million better at the midpoint than its earlier outlook. Planned capital spending is now $1.40 billion to $1.50 billion, which the company says is $300 million lower at the midpoint. These are the company's forecasts, and it can change them.

Software and autonomy dates

The shareholder letter sets out two dates for Rivian's driver-assistance work. It describes a feature called Point to Point, in which the vehicle follows a route from an entered address to the destination with the driver supervising. Rivian says a limited rollout through its invitation-only Autonomy Early Access Program is expected later this year, with a general release to Autonomy+ subscribers in 2027. It says it will share more at an Autonomy and AI Day on 9 December. The letter also says the R2 was named Top Gear's 2027 SUV of the Year.

Analysis

The numbers show a company whose vehicle business is still below break-even at the gross level, while the software arrangement with Volkswagen supplies a large share of its profit. More than half of software and services revenue came from that one joint venture, by Rivian's own count. The R2, which is cheaper than the R1, now drives volume, and the company points to falling per-vehicle costs as the sign that the ramp is working. Whether the R2 can carry the vehicle side to a gross profit is the question the next few quarters will answer. This desk is not making a forecast or saying anything about the shares.

For background, this desk covered Rivian's third-quarter U.S. sales estimate from Kelley Blue Book earlier this week, and other carmakers' results, including Tesla, Volvo Cars, Ford's Model e unit, and BYD.

More from the Industry desk.