The third quarter delivered a study in contrasts for the American electric vehicle market: Rivian posted a record quarter while Detroit's traditional giants suffered steep declines.
Rivian delivered 19,248 vehicles in Q3, up 46 percent year over year and 58 percent from the second quarter, a company record driven by the first high-volume delivery quarter of its R2 mid-size SUV. Yet the stock fell more than 3 percent on the news, as management held its full-year guidance of 65,000 to 70,000 vehicles steady, which Wall Street read as a conservative signal.
The traditional Detroit three told a bleaker story. GM's EV sales dropped 62 percent, with the Equinox EV falling 92 percent to just 1,905 units and the Blazer down 84 percent. Ford's EV sales fell 80 percent, with the Mustang Mach-E managing only 5,574 units. Meanwhile, Toyota and Lexus combined for 17,387 electrified sales, up 280 percent, as Japanese brands gained ground.
Analysts reading the scorecard note a pattern: the winners were either pure EV players, late-arriving Japanese makers with more mature products, luxury buyers unaffected by tax-credit changes, or the cheapest option on the lot. Losers were concentrated almost entirely among Detroit's mid-price offerings.
