5 years in the past, Rivian and Lucid had been virtually at all times talked about in the identical breath. They had been America’s best-funded EV startups, every backed by deep-pocketed buyers and promising to problem Tesla from totally different angles. They had been based across the similar time too, a couple of years after Tesla within the late 2000s. They each went public in 2021, and even began delivering their first merchandise inside weeks of each other that fall. Each the Rivian R1T pickup and Lucid’s Air sedan gained large acclaim from reviewers on the time for his or her awe-inspiring efficiency and high-tech really feel. Each firms went on to burn billions of {dollars} chasing a aim that is turned out to be a lot tougher than constructing an amazing electrical automotive: changing into an actual, sustainable automaker.
In 2026, Rivian and Lucid are nonetheless friends, in fact, as uncommon U.S. electrical automotive startups that managed to get to manufacturing with out crashing and burning first. However the challenges they face have by no means been extra distinct. Rivian has a well-liked flagship product, a robust model picture, and a quantity product that is already reaching shoppers. Lucid has two slow-selling, high-end merchandise and is combating to get to its subsequent massive break.
[We discuss Rivian, Lucid, Ford’s Fathom EV truck, and more on this week’s Plugged-In Podcast, available here.]
As a part of its second-quarter earnings this week, Lucid introduced a broad “operational reset” that hinges on $1.4 billion in money financial savings this 12 months.
Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli was blunt concerning the automaker’s predicament throughout his first earnings name as high government. “Whereas there isn’t any query that Lucid introduced main improvements and excellent merchandise to the market, we now have disenchanted on a number of fronts, and for much too lengthy,” he stated. “We’ve got not executed constantly, we miss commitments, launched merchandise earlier than they had been prepared, underinvested in service, responded too slowly to high quality points, and allowed complexity to sluggish choices down.”
“The work forward is substantial,” he added.
The turnaround entails deep job cuts, decrease capital expenditures, and a deliberate lower to manufacturing in Arizona so the corporate can deal with transferring stock. Lucid says it’s specializing in “must-win” initiatives, like its robotaxi take care of Nuro and Uber and its upcoming $50,000 crossover, the Cosmos. Notably, Napoli stated the automaker was delaying the launch of that essential automotive from late 2026 to 2027 as a result of he didn’t need to rush it to market and danger points. The Air and newer Gravity SUV have struggled to realize traction—Lucid delivered a bit of underneath 16,000 automobiles final 12 months—so the Cosmos, with its higher potential for large enchantment, is totally key. And certainly, the Gravity’s launch rollout has been hampered by software program bugs that Lucid gained’t need to repeat.
The Lucid Air stays one of many all-around most technologically spectacular EVs you should buy.
Photograph by: Lucid Motors
Whereas Lucid’s income grew considerably to $405 million throughout the quarter, its web loss widened to over $1 billion. The corporate stated its $3 billion in liquidity offers it runway into 2027.
Rivian isn’t creating wealth but both, and it additionally must scale up badly. However whereas Lucid is pushing again its potential Tesla Mannequin 3 second, Rivian is mainly there. It kicked off buyer deliveries of the smaller, cheaper R2 crossover in June. Now the query is how rapidly it could actually ramp that up with out kinks, and whether or not it could actually persuade sufficient patrons to point out up. Rivian just lately raised its supply steering to 65,000-70,000 automobiles this 12 months—up from round 42,000 gross sales final 12 months. Its funds are trending in the appropriate path too. Rivian raked in $1.66 billion in income final quarter and posted a web loss attributable to widespread stockholders of $837 million, each enhancements over Q2 2025.
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So, what occurred? A part of it could come right down to product selection. Lucid launched with an costly four-door sedan. Regardless of how spectacular it was—and it stays fairly superb—that’s a restricted market. Rivian got here out of the gates with a premium pickup truck and SUV, automobiles People clearly crave in greater numbers.
Rivian has additionally been quicker to roll out fashions. Inside a few 12 months after launching the R1T, Rivian began promoting a business van to Amazon and launched the R1S SUV, its high vendor. The Gravity three-row SUV is a boon to Lucid, nevertheless it solely got here out in late 2024 and ramped up slowly.
Rivian pretty rapidly adopted up the R1T truck with the R1S SUV and a business van, giving it a broader lineup than Lucid.
Photograph by: Rivian
Plus, Rivian has a secret weapon in its know-how three way partnership with the Volkswagen Group. That introduced in some $300 million in income for the EV startup in Q2, plus it’s shopping for the corporate time to scale. VW helps fund Rivian’s future by billions in inventory purchases and debt.
None of this implies Rivian is “secure.” The corporate nonetheless expects to lose cash this 12 months, and it must efficiently launch the R2 right into a weaker EV market. Nor does it imply Lucid needs to be counted out. Its know-how stays a few of the greatest within the trade, and Saudi Arabia’s public funding fund has provided quite a lot of money infusions through the years. Final month, one Saudi prince purchased 5% of the corporate in a key vote of confidence.
Not too way back, Rivian and Lucid had been mainly working the identical race. At the moment, they’re in very totally different levels of it. Rivian is making an attempt to scale, whereas Lucid is working to reset. And neither journey will probably be straightforward.
Contact the writer: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com
