Rivian was saved by software in 2025

Rivian is, by all means, a manufacturer and marketer of EVs. But in 2025, it was the company’s programs and services that helped its annual revenue grow by 8%.

Rivian reported on Thursday $5.38 billion in total revenue in 2025, up from $4.97 billion from last year. That rosy picture softens a bit when looking at its auto revenue, which fell 15% to $3.8 billion in 2025. The fall was fueled by a $134 million decline in sales of regulatory loans and lower vehicle sales, which were partially offset by higher sales prices, according to Rivian.

Meanwhile, program and service revenue tripled to $1.55 billion a year. And the partnership with the Volkswagen Group is what led to the biggest growth, according to Rivian. The “service” part of the line, which Rivian does not come out of, includes a variety of products, including car repair, car sales, and maintenance services. The rest, and the majority of the money, comes from programs, mainly due to the agreement with the VW Group.

VW and Rivian made a related technology in 2024 its value is $5.8 billion. The agreement is permanent and in 2025 Rivian reached the milestone, which means that a total of 1 billion dollars is paid in the form of a share sale. Under the JV, Rivian will provide the VW Group with its existing electronic architecture and software technology.

Rivian received an initial note of $1 billion in 2024 and another $1 billion to pay in July 2025.

Rivian is expected to continue receiving payments from the VW Group through 2027. Rivian is expected to receive an additional $2 billion as part of the deal in 2026, CFO Claire McDonough said Thursday on a company earnings call. About $1 billion of that is needed to successfully complete winter testing, which is underway. The remaining $1 billion is non-performing loans, which are expected to be received in October.

And even if the investment is a big stop, Rivian’s financial success in 2026 will depend heavily on the release of its next EV, the R2.

Rivian confirmed in its earnings report on Thursday that the R2 SUV, which was designed to be cheap to build and affordable for customers, will come to the market by June 2026. The line item “cheap to build” is very important to Rivian, which has already lost money on every vehicle it produces.

Rivian has spent many years trying to push the price of the products sold. And it has gone ahead with the release of its second model R1T and R1S SUV. For example, Mr. McDonough said that “in the fourth quarter they were able to deliver $92,000 of cogs per quarter and that was about $4,000 per quarter improvement compared to the third quarter.” Rivian’s cogs per share were $99,000 in the fourth quarter of 2024.

The company saw its total vehicle sales decline year over year from $1.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024 to $898 million in the same quarter in 2025.

The R2 SUV, which will debut as a dual all-wheel drive vehicle, is also an opportunity to cut costs. The company is expected to release more details about R2, including the final version, on March 12.

Rivian’s guidance for 2026 shows it is banking on the demand for R2 and its potential to increase production. The company said Thursday it expects to deliver between 62,000 and 67,000 vehicles in 2026 — which would represent a 59% bump from last year. Rivian delivered 42,247 vehicles in 2025, which includes its two R1 commercial vehicles and an electric delivery vehicle (EDV).

The CEO of Rivian RJ Scaringe said that the company expects the growth of EDV sales in 2026. Rivian is planning to create a model for all-wheel drive and a large battery type of EDV, for which Amazon is its main customer.

“All of this is to help open up the Amazon web experience,” Scaringe said. “We are working closely with Amazon to clarify the requirements of the same and we are very happy to make this possible.”

The company is not showing any profit – on a change basis – at this time. But it gives a big change in this aspect. Rivian reported that $3.6 billion is lost in 2025; it expects adjusted losses between $1.8 billion and $2.1 billion for 2026. Rivian also makes operating expenses between $1.95 billion and $2.05 billion this year.