The EV market just had another tough quarter, with sales falling more than 20% from last year. Rivian, though, went the other way. They grew while most others shrank.
In Q2, Rivian delivered 11,405 vehicles, which is a 7.6% increase over last year. Year-to-date, they’ve sold 21,770, up almost 14%. Sure, those numbers are small next to the big automakers, but it’s real progress, especially when most other EV makers are reporting losses.
Most of the market struggled. According to Kelley Blue Book, 247,226 EVs sold in the US in Q2, which is up from a sluggish Q1, but still down over 20% from last year. It’s the third straight quarter of big declines.
The only good news is that things aren’t dropping as fast as before. The first quarter was down 27%, and late last year was even worse.
In late 2025, EVs made up over 10% of new car sales because everyone wanted to lock in those federal incentives before they expired. By this spring, EVs were back down to about 6% of the market. It looks like a crash, but it’s really just demand that got pulled forward.
Instead, a lot of buyers went for hybrids. Hybrid sales are up about 9% this year, even though overall new car sales dipped. That’s no surprise with high gas prices and lots of new hybrid choices at dealerships.
Tesla still dominates, making up about half of all EV sales. Even though their numbers dropped over 10% and they mostly sell just two models, Chevy comes in far behind, followed by Hyundai and Cadillac. The big surprise? Toyota and Subaru both doubled their EV sales, and now Toyota is in the top fiv. (Can’t say I ever saw that coming.)
Rivian is growing right as the R2 is starting to reach customers. That Q2 figure already includes some early R2 deliveries. Rivian just did not break them out, so the exact split is not public. The bulk of the volume is still the R1 line and the commercial vans, which are not cheap and were never meant to move in huge numbers.
Of course, 7% growth from a small base doesn’t make Rivian a big player just yet. They’re still tiny next to Tesla. And let’s be honest, this isn’t an easy time for any EV maker. Most automakers are rethinking their electric plans right now.
So, seeing the market stabilize is good for everyone. For Rivian, managing to grow during this rough patch, relying only on the expensive models, is a solid sign. But the real test comes next with R2.
With stats, it’s important to include qualifiers such as “in America”. The story in the rest of the world is quite different. World EV sales are projected to continue to grow. The world’s largest car market sees more than 50% EV sales. Even the UK is 25%. Automobiles are a global industry (especially with the 80+% foreign parts content of the older American automakers).
(Where incentives have been removed in countries like Germany, sales drop…for a year or two, then return to previous levels, and increase further. In America, the percent of the fleet on the road that’s EV increases, and thus ever more charge point operators rush to install, like Walmart; lots of new charge locations each week.) I suspect that American legacy automakers are “reconsidering” because they too see the demos of Chinese megaWatt charging for automobiles, 5 to 9 minutes, and realize how far behind they are. They know that putting billions more into outdated technology isn’t the path forward. “Reconsidering” seems to include whole new platforms. When Americans soon see Canadians with shiny new Chinese EVs with more features for the money, even after import costs, their expectations will change, worrying legacy auto.
Minor typo: Toyota is in the top fiv.
You can delete this after. 🙂