Electric vehicle truck and SUV startup Rivian just beat the odds.
Ahead of its earnings call with investors later this afternoon, the California-based automaker announced an important milestone: its first-ever positive gross quarterly profit. The fourth quarter of 2024 brought in $170 million in gross profits, a significant turnaround from $600 million in losses during the same period in 2023.
“We delivered record revenues in the fourth quarter of 2024 driven by the sale of regulatory credits and software and services revenue growth, as well as increasing R1 average selling prices with the increased availability of our Tri-Motor offering,” the automaker said in a letter to shareholders. “We also made meaningful progress implementing greater operational efficiencies in our Normal plant.”
Rivian reaffirmed that it does expect 2025 to have “modest” profitability, which would be another major milestone. However, the automaker is also warning investors about big potential headwinds this year.
Rivian sold 51,579 units in 2024, compared to 50,122 units in 2023. However, in 2025 it’s predicting sales will stay relatively flat or potentially decrease to 46,000 to 51,000 EVs. It also expects capital expenditures in 2025 to be between $1.6 billion and $1.7 billion, up from $1.41 billion in 2024, as it prepares to ramp up the more affordably priced R2 model in 2026. That SUV, if successful, could be what takes Rivian across the “Valley of Death“—the point where a startup is consuming huge amounts of capital and when it can build and sell its products at scale, and profitably.
Rivian also alludes to the potentially harmful effects that tariffs and the end of the EV tax credits could have on car prices: “We believe external factors could impact our 2025 expectations, including changes to government policies and regulations, and a challenging demand environment.”
This is a developing story. It will be updated momentarily.
