Rivian Q3 Beat: $2.16B Revenue, Loss Narrower Than Expected, and Delivery Guidance Raised on R2 Demand

Rivian delivered a clear third-quarter beat and raised its 2026 delivery outlook on the back of early R2 strength. The company reported third-quarter revenue of $2.16 billion, up 38% year over year and ahead of consensus estimates near $1.99 billion. The adjusted loss narrowed to $0.48 per share, better than the roughly $0.56 loss analysts had projected. Shares gained after the double beat, in a week when the EV spotlight swung firmly to Rivian over Tesla steady robotaxi rollout and more incremental affordable-EV updates from legacy names.

The company raised its full-year 2026 delivery outlook to 67,000-70,000 vehicles from 65,000-70,000 and improved its adjusted core guidance by $100 million at the midpoint, while lowering expected capital expenditures to $1.4 billion-$1.5 billion. The hike is driven by the new R2 SUV, deliveries of which began in June; the company now expects R2 to represent the majority of total delivery volume in the fourth quarter and has added a second shift at its plant in Illinois to scale production. A separate briefing notes R2 now outsells both R1 models combined, with overall Rivian sales up 46% over last year.

CEO RJ Scaringe said Rivian remains on track to hit an autonomy milestone by year-end that would unlock a $250 million tranche of Uber planned investment, and the company plans a supervised point-to-point autonomous driving service starting at the end of 2026, with a target of Level 4 autonomy by 2028, initially for its R2 robotaxi in partnership with Uber. Those autonomy dates are targets, not delivered products — but the Q3 numbers themselves are delivered: revenue, loss and guidance all moved in the right direction at once, which is rarer in EV earnings than it should be.