Rivian is now the second best-selling EV brand in the US behind only Tesla, per Cox Automotive. Its Q3 2026 earnings showed revenue up 38% to $2.155 billion, the R2 as its best-seller, and a raised delivery forecast, even as the overall EV market fell 30%.
Photo: Rivian
For a year, America's EV market has been shrinking. It is down 30% through the first nine months of 2026, and it is rare to see an EV maker come out of that with good news. Rivian just did. According to Cox Automotive's Q3 2026 Kelley Blue Book EV Sales Report, Rivian is now the second best-selling EV brand in the United States, behind only Tesla.
Twelve months ago Rivian ranked 10th for the quarter. Now it sits ahead of Hyundai and Chevrolet, two of the largest automakers on earth, which have dealer networks, factories on three continents and decades of brand loyalty. Rivian's Q3 earnings report, released October 29, shows how it got there.
Kelley Blue Book counts individual brands, not parent companies. That distinction matters. GM has held the No. 2 spot for more than a year when Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac are added together. Break them apart, and no single GM brand is selling as many EVs as Rivian.
| Rank | Brand | US EV sales, YTD 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tesla | 386,194 |
| 2 | Rivian | 41,009 |
| 3 | Hyundai | 39,121 |
| 4 | Chevrolet | 38,298 |
Source: Cox Automotive / Kelley Blue Book Q3 2026 EV Sales Report
The gap to Tesla is still very large. Tesla sold more than nine times as many EVs. But the gap behind Rivian is tight, under 2,000 units to Hyundai and under 3,000 to Chevy. Rivian's Q3 sales rose 45.7% while the market fell around it, and that is why it moved up.
For five years Rivian sold expensive vehicles. The R1T pickup and R1S SUV start well above $70,000, and those are the prices that made Rivian a beloved niche brand rather than a volume player. The R2 changed that. It is a smaller five-seat SUV starting at about $58,000, and lower-priced trims are planned.
In its first full quarter on sale, the R2 became Rivian's best-selling vehicle, outselling the R1T, the R1S and the Amazon delivery van. Rivian is now running a second R2 shift at its plant in Normal, Illinois. Top Gear named the R2 its 2027 SUV of the Year.
Shoppers are lining up to try it. Rivian logged more than 103,000 demo drives in Q3, almost double the roughly 57,000 in Q2. Test drives lead to orders, so that is the number to watch heading into 2027.
Rivian reported on October 29 and beat Wall Street on nearly every line.
| Metric | Q3 2026 | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.155B (+38%) | Beat the ~$2.02B estimate |
| Deliveries | 19,248 (record) | Up 46% from a year ago |
| Production | 19,751 (record) | The factory is keeping up |
| Gross profit | $176M | Positive overall, about flat with Q2 |
| Software & services | $605M (+45%) | 42% margin, largely from the VW joint venture |
| Adjusted EPS | -$0.48 | Better than the -$0.61 expected |
| Net loss | -$913M | Still losing money |
| Cash & investments | $5.5B | $7.1B in total liquidity |
The number that matters most: Rivian's cost to build each vehicle fell by more than $12,000 from Q2, to about $84,700, as the R2 ramp spread fixed costs over more cars. Rivian still loses money on every vehicle it sells, about $8,400 per vehicle once regulatory credits are stripped out, and that number is shrinking fast.
Rivian raised the bottom of its 2026 delivery forecast to 67,000–70,000 vehicles, up from 65,000–70,000. It also improved its adjusted EBITDA outlook by $100 million at the midpoint, to a loss of $1.75–$1.85 billion, and cut capital spending by $300 million, which it describes as a matter of timing.
Here is the math. Rivian delivered 41,807 vehicles through September, so Q4 needs roughly 25,200 to 28,200 deliveries to hit the new range. That would be its biggest quarter by a wide margin and another 30%-plus jump on a record Q3. Rivian is betting the R2 has that much momentum.
The caveat: Rivian is not profitable. It lost $913 million in Q3 and burned $1.1 billion in free cash flow. Its automotive business alone posted an $80 million gross loss, which includes about $120 million in R2 ramp-up costs. The company is spending heavily to grow, and Volkswagen's money, including a $1 billion term loan funded in October, is a big part of what keeps the runway long.
The next date for Rivian is December 9, its Autonomy & AI Day. Point-to-point hands-free driving rolls out to Early Access testers later this year and to all Autonomy+ subscribers in 2027. Rivian also expects to hit an Uber milestone by year-end, which would unlock a $250 million investment.
Further out, Phase 1 of its Georgia factory is under construction. It is planned for 300,000 vehicles a year of R2 and R3 capacity, and R2 production there is expected in 2028. For now, every R2 comes from Illinois.
The bottom line: Rivian's jump to #2 is the clearest sign yet that the EV slowdown is about products, not demand for electric cars. Buyers are skipping EVs that don't excite them and lining up for ones that do. The R2 is the second kind. Rivian still has to prove it can make money, but the hardest part, getting people into showrooms, is working. If Q4 lands near 28,000, the #2 spot may not be close next year.
Related: Rivian's record 19,248-delivery quarter · Rivian Autonomy point-to-point early access
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