Rivian (RIVN) talks R2, cost-cutting, and more during 2024 Investor Day: Here’s the latest
At its first Investor Day on Thursday, Rivian gave several insights into the EV maker’s future. CEO RJ Scaringe explained how Rivian’s software-defined EVs, built from the ground up, and other in-house tech are evolving for its next-gen vehicles.
Check out the latest from Rivian’s 2024 Investor Day below.
The next growth stage
Rivian held its first Investor Day on Thursday. In a Tesla-like presentation, Scaringe outlined Rivian’s roadmap to profitability.
A Rivian is not just any other vehicle. Rivian’s Adventure Vehicles were built from day one to improve over time. “On day 300, it’s a better vehicle,” Rivian’s CEO said during the event.
Perhaps, more importantly, Rivian is learning to build them at a “significantly” lower cost, passing the savings onto buyers.
After building an authentic luxury EV brand, Rivian is making its vehicles more accessible. Rivian shut down its Normal, IL plant in April to improve efficiency. Scaringe said the updates and supplier negotiations have resulted in “significant cost improvements.”
The company cut out 100 steps from its battery-making process, over 50 components from the body shop, and 500 parts from the design.
Its focus on a scalable, flexible platform, built from the ground up, is paving the way for its future EVs.
Rivian outlines R2, future plans during 2024 Investor Day
Rivian introduced its smaller, cheaper R2 electric vehicle in March. Starting at $45,000, Rivian’s R2 is nearly half the cost of the R1S and R1T models.
After scoring over 68,000 reservations in less than 24 hours, Rivian’s R2 is expected to significantly expand its market.
Rivian’s R1S is already one of the top-selling EVs. Through the first three months of 2024, Rivian’s R1S was the fourth top-selling EV in the US, behind only Tesla’s Model Y, Model 3, and Ford’s Mustang Mach-E.
According to Scaringe, it’s also the top-selling large vehicle in California, electric or gas. The tech and features driving demand will translate to a lower price point in the R2, R3, and beyond.
Rivian is consolidating ECUs, harness length, and electrical parts to cut costs. In addition to supplier negotiations and more efficient manufacturing, Rivian is confident R2 will help drive profits.
Rivian plans to begin R2 production in Normal in early 2026. Although initially Rivian planned to build R2 at its new GA plant, the move will help save $2.25 billion. More importantly, it will help get R2 to market earlier.
The new partnership with Volkswagen shows the flexibility of Rivian’s platform. Rivian’s head of software, Wassym Bensaid, said the platform can be scaled up or down for more variants.
Bensaid explained how Rivian is focused on getting its software and hardware into more EVs globally. With software at the heart, Rivian’s vehicles will continue improving over time.
Since launching, Rivian has rolled out more than 30 OTA updates, adding over 500 features. It continues to take feedback to add new features like Snow Mode and Launch Mode.
Rivian’s platform enables continuous improvement and can be used for new functions, like autonomy. Using AI and machine learning, the software constantly takes in information, analyzes it, and improves via OTA updates.
Scaringe explained how Rivian’s new Enduro and Ascend drive units, built in-house, are driving down costs while improving performance.
The new Ascend motor is paving the way for future improvements for the R2 and further generation vehicles.
Maximus, or “Enduro Gen 2,” the drive R2 and R3 drive units, is focused on cost savings with less labor and parts. The side-mounted inverter optimizes packaging.
Rivian has also significantly reduced the number of parts to support lower costs. For example, the R2 has 65% fewer parts than the R1S.
Despite its cheaper price point, the EV maker promises that R2 will still have the essence of a Rivian.
Check back for more updates from Rivian’s 2024 Investor Day.
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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testifies during a remote video hearing held by subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee on “Social Media’s Role in Promoting Extremism and Misinformation” in Washington, U.S., March 25, 2021.
Handout | Via Reuters
Block jumped more than 5% on Monday, leading a rally in shares of fintech companies as analysts downplayed the threat of JPMorgan Chase’s reported plan to charge data aggregators for access to customer financial information.
The recovery followed steep declines on Friday, after Bloomberg reported that JPMorgan had circulated pricing sheets outlining potential fees for aggregators like Plaid and Yodlee, which connect fintech platforms to users’ bank data.
In a note to clients on Monday, Evercore ISI analysts said the potential new expenses were “far from a ‘business model-breaking’ cost increase.”
In addition to Block’s rise, PayPal climbed 3.5% on Monday after sliding Friday. Robinhood and Shift4 recorded modest gains.
Broader market momentum helped fuel some of the rebound. The Nasdaq closed at a record, and crypto rallied, with bitcoin climbing past $123,000. Ether, solana, and other altcoins also gained.
Evercore ISI’s analysts said that even if JPMorgan’s changes were implemented, the most immediate effect would be a slight bump in the cost of one-time account setups — perhaps 50 to 60 cents.
Morgan Stanley echoed that view, writing that any impact would be “negligible,” especially for large fintechs that rely more on debit, credit, or stored balances than bank account pulls for transactions.
PayPal doesn’t anticipate much short-term impact, according to a person with knowledge of the issue. The person, who asked not to be named in order to speak about private financial matters, noted that PayPal relies on aggregators primarily for account verification and already has long-term pricing contracts in place.
While smaller fintechs that depend heavily on automated clearing house (ACH) rails or Open Banking frameworks for onboarding and compliance may face real pressure if the fees take effect, analysts said the larger platforms are largely insulated.
WATCH: Congress moves to redraw $3.7 trillion crypto market rules, opening door to Wall Street
The global EV market is still charging ahead. According to new numbers from global research firm Rho Motion, 9.1 million EVs were sold worldwide in the first half of 2025, up 28% compared to the same period last year. But not every region is accelerating at the same pace.
China and Europe are doing the heavy lifting
More than half of the world’s EVs this year have been bought in China. That market hit 5.5 million sales in the first six months of 2025 – a 32% jump year-over-year. Around half of new cars bought in China are now electric.
While some Chinese cities’ subsidies have dried up, Rho Motion expects momentum to pick back up later in the year as more funding is released.
In Europe, 2 million EVs were sold in the first half of the year, up 26%. Battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales also rose 26%, thanks in part to affordable models like the Renault 4 (pictured) and 5 entering the market. Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) weren’t far behind, growing 27% year-to-date. Chinese automakers are leaning into PHEVs as a way to work around the EU’s new tariffs on BEVs.
Spain is leading the pack with EV sales soaring 85% so far this year. Its generous MOVES III incentive program was extended in April and has kept sales strong. The UK and Germany are also seeing solid growth – 32% and 40%, respectively. France, however, is slumping. With subsidies cut, EV sales there have dropped 13%.
North America is stuck in the slow lane
Things aren’t looking quite as bright in North America. EV sales in the US, Canada, and Mexico are up just 3% so far this year.
Mexico is the one bright spot, with a 20% boost. The US is up 6%. But Canada is down a whopping 23%.
And things could get bumpier. On July 4, Trump signed Congress’s big bill into law, which axes all the Inflation Reduction Act EV tax credits. Those consumer credits for EVs now officially end on September 30.
Just over half of the EVs sold in the US this year qualified for those credits. Rho Motion predicts a rush in Q3 before the subsidies disappear – and a decline in sales after that.
Rho Motion data manager Charles Lester said, “With Trump’s latest cuts in his ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ the US could struggle to see any growth in the EV market overall in 2025.”
Global EV sales snapshot, H1 2025 vs H1 2024
- Global: 9.1 million (+28%)
- China: 5.5 million (+32%)
- Europe: 2.0 million (+26%)
- North America: 0.9 million (+3%)
- Rest of world: 0.7 million (+40%)
Read more: China breaks records as global EV sales hit 7.2 million in 2025
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Lucid’s electric sedan can drive further, charge faster, and packs more advanced tech than most of the competition. That might explain why it’s leading the segment. The Lucid Air remained the best-selling luxury EV sedan in the US after widening its lead in the Q2.
The Lucid Air is America’s best-selling luxury EV sedan
The 2025 Lucid Air Pure arrived as the “World’s most efficient car” with an EPA-estimated range of 420 miles and a record 146 MPGe.
It just set a new Guinness World Record last week for the longest journey by an electric car after travelling 749 miles (1,205 km) on a single charge.
That record was set in the range-topping Lucid Air Grand Touring model, which is rated for up to 512 miles of EPA-estimated range. On the WLTP scale, it’s rated at 597 miles (960 km). Either way, it still crushed the estimates.
According to second-quarter sales data, released by Kelley Blue Book on Monday, the Lucid Air is still America’s best-selling luxury EV.
Lucid sold 2,630 Air models in Q2, up 10% from the previous year. Through the first half of 2025, Lucid Air sales are up 17% with 5,094 units sold.
Tesla, on the other hand, only sold 1,435 Model Ss during the quarter, 71% fewer than it did in Q2 2024. Tesla Model S sales in the US are down 70% through the first half of the year at 2,715.
Although Porsche Taycan sales were up 32% with 1,064 models sold, the significantly upgraded 2025 model year was expected to see even more demand. Porsche has 2,083 Taycans in the US this year, up just 1% from 2024.
Other luxury EV sedans, such as the BMW i5 (1,434), i7 (820), and the Mercedes EQS (498), experienced steep double-digit sales declines year-over-year.
And it’s not just electric luxury sedans. The Lucid Air is currently outselling many gas-powered vehicles in its segment.
Lucid’s first electric SUV, the Gravity, is also rolling out. Although only five were sold in the second quarter, Lucid is quickly scaling production. Lucid aims to produce 20,000 vehicles this year, more than double the roughly 9,000 it built in 2024.
Earlier today, Lucid’s interim CEO, Marc Winterhoff, confirmed during an interview with Bloomberg that the company expects higher Gravity output in the second half of the year.
The interview was at the grand opening of Panasonic’s new battery cell plant in De Soto, Kansas. Winterhoff said Lucid will start using new cells from the facility, but not until next year.
Lucid’s CEO stressed the importance of establishing a local supply chain, as policy changes under the Trump Administration are taking effect. Lucid and Panasonic are collaborating to localize EV materials, such as graphite. Last month, Lucid secured a multi-year supply agreement with Graphite One for US-sourced Graphite.
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