Rivian achieves important interim goal in VW partnership

The US electric car manufacturer Rivian has achieved a gross profit for the second quarter in a row - which is a prerequisite for billion-euro financing from its partner Volkswagen. However, not all the figures in the quarterly balance sheet are positive, as Rivian has lowered its delivery forecast for 2025.

Similarly to the fourth quarter of 2024, Rivian’s key figures in the quarterly report improved significantly. The company managed to achieve its second consecutive gross profit: after USD 170 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, this rose to USD 206 million in the first quarter of 2025. In contrast, there was a gross loss of USD 527 million in the same period of the previous year.

This is very relevant for Rivian’s liquidity: the second consecutive gross profit was an important milestone for the cooperation agreed with Volkswagen last year. The Wolfsburg-based automotive group is thus obliged to invest a further tranche of the total agreed 5.8 billion dollars in the partnership, in this case one billion dollars.

According to Rivian, Volkswagen will pay this amount on 30 June 2025 and receive Rivian shares in return. Volkswagen is to pay a premium of 33 per cent on the average Rivian share price from 15 May to 27 June.

Less positive figures outside of gross profit

Back to the quarterly figures: The second gross profit in a row and also the second in the company’s entire history is a positive development, no question. However, the term gross profit should be used with caution, as it only refers to the difference between sales revenue and the cost of goods or materials.

Other costs, such as administration, sales or research, are not included in gross profit, and these are not negligible at Rivian. Accordingly, the bottom line was a net loss of 541 million dollars, which is still 63 per cent below the loss of 1.45 billion dollars in the same period last year. There was also a loss in the operating area: Rivian reported an adjusted EBITDA of minus 329 million dollars, also significantly less than the 798 million dollars in the same period of the previous year.

However, turnover only increased by USD 36 million to USD 1.24 billion compared to the same period last year. This was also significantly lower than in the fourth quarter of 2024 (1.73 billion dollars), which Rivian explains by the fact that demand for Rivian delivery vans was particularly high during the Christmas period and therefore naturally fell again in the first quarter. At the same time, Rivian emphasises once again that the delivery vans are now also available to other customers beyond Amazon. For example, the US division of HelloFresh is the first new major customer to have already taken delivery of 70 vehicles.

Sales down at the start of the year

The delivery figures for the first quarter of 2025 had already raised eyebrows: between January and March, Rivian only delivered 8,640 vehicles – 36 per cent fewer than the 13,588 units in the first quarter of 2024. When these figures were announced, Rivian had still stuck to its annual forecast of 46,000 to 51,000 deliveries in total. However, the management team led by founder and CEO RJ Scaringe has now cancelled this figure and lowered it to between 40,000 and 46,000 units.

Rivian’s reasoning is that it only produces its cars in the USA and a large proportion of the components used (excluding battery cells) come from the USA or are USMCA-qualified. The company is thus effectively indicating that it is hardly affected by the Trump administration’s new tariffs. At the same time, however, Rivian states that the company is not immune to the effects of the global trade and economic environment.

The company’s now lowered guidance reflects management’s current assessment of evolving trade regulation, policy, tariffs and the overall impact these issues could have on consumer sentiment and demand, it concluded.

Although the shipment guidance itself has been lowered, Rivian is maintaining its guidance for adjusted EBITDA of a loss of $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion based on strong first-quarter results. In 2024, this loss was still just under USD 2.7 billion and in 2023 it was USD 3.8 billion.

New supplier park in Illinois

Meanwhile, Rivian has announced an investment of USD 120 million in the construction of a supplier park near its plant in Normal, Illinois, which is expected to create several hundred jobs at suppliers and almost 100 direct jobs at Rivian over the next two years.

Some of Rivian’s suppliers are expected to carry out light assembly and production work on-site in the supplier park. Rivian employees in the supplier park will assemble and sequence the parts, which will then be transported to the main plant. Rivian plans to build an underground tunnel between the supplier park and the main plant to ensure efficient operations while avoiding increased traffic on local roads.

The state of Illinois is supporting the project with a comprehensive package of incentives to offset the project’s start-up costs and certain infrastructure improvements, as well as tax credits tied to the creation of good-paying jobs.

“In Illinois, we aren’t just making electric vehicles: we are creating an entire ecosystem – attracting investments, bolstering our workforce, and strengthening the EV manufacturing supply chain,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Rivian’s investment will attract suppliers from across the globe to invest in Illinois and continue to create good-paying jobs, providing Illinois with the competitive edge to thrive in the clean energy economy.”

ctfassets.net (quarterly report as PDF), rivian.com (supplier park)