Rivian's Q1 Sales Fell 36% Amid L.A. Wildfire Fallout

The American EV startup said it delivered 8,640 vehicles from January through March, a year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter drop.

Photo by: Patrick George

Tim Levin

By: Tim Levin

Apr 2, 2025 at 3:28pm ET

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Rivian said it delivered 8,640 vehicles during the first quarter of 2025.
It previously said it expected lower sales due to a "challenging demand environment" plus the impact of the wildfires in Los Angeles, a key market.
Rivian said it still expects to deliver 46,000-51,000 vehicles in 2025.

California-based electric vehicle startup Rivian delivered 8,640 vehicles during the first three months of 2025, the company said on Wednesday. That's a 36% drop from the same quarter last year, when the automaker delivered 13,588 vehicles. It's also 40% lower than Rivian's deliveries in the prior quarter, which totaled 14,183 vehicles.

On Rivian's fourth-quarter earnings call in February, executives warned that vehicle sales would drop to around 8,000 units, due to "seasonality coupled with a challenging demand environment, partially driven by the impact of the fires in Los Angeles, which has historically been one of our largest markets."

The 2025 Rivian R1S.

Photo by: Victoria Scott / Motor1

Rivian also said at the time that production would land around 14,000 units "as we focus on building inventory to help mitigate the impacts of our planned shutdown in the second half of the year, as well as enable higher commercial deliveries in the second quarter."

Indeed, on Wednesday Rivian reported producing 14,611 vehicles at its factory in Normal, Illinois during the first quarter. The company currently sells the R1S SUV, R1T pickup and a commercial van, which any business can now buy after an exclusivity deal with Amazon ended. It doesn't break out sales between those models.

On Wednesday, Rivian reaffirmed earlier guidance of 46,000-51,000 deliveries for 2025. That means it expects to be flat to down for the second year in a row. Demand for the relatively expensive R1 vehicles appears to be hitting a ceiling.

If things go according to plan, 2026 should be a completely different story. Rivian is gearing up to launch its most consequential vehicle yet: the R2. The compact crossover should cost around $45,000 and will do battle with America's most popular vehicles, like the Toyota RAV4 and Tesla Model Y.

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Once all the Q1 numbers trickle in, EV sales overall in the U.S. will likely decline quarter-over-quarter, but they should be up year-over-year, according to Cox Automotive.

Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com