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Is Europe Becoming Rivian's Next Big Growth Opportunity?

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Key Takeaways

  • Rivian designed the R2 and R3 with Europe in mind, aligned to regional preferences and roads.
  • RIVN benefits as EU duties on U.S.-built vehicles drop from 10% to 0.
  • Rivian chose Georgia for export access to Europe, focusing on U.S. scale with no launch date.

Rivian’s (RIVN - Free Report) R2 and R3 models were conceived from the outset with Europe in mind, both in their architecture and design, per the company’s third-quarter 2025 earnings transcript. These vehicles are especially well-suited to European preferences and road conditions. Although no launch schedule has been confirmed yet, Europe remains a core focus, and this priority influenced the decision to locate the new manufacturing plant in Georgia, a site chosen in part for its efficient export access to Europe.

Market conditions have also shifted in the company’s favor. The U.S. dollar has weakened and European import duties on U.S.-built vehicles are set to drop from 10% to 0. The elimination of tariffs offers Rivian a major advantage, even if it has not attracted the attention it deserves. While the timing for European exports remains undecided, these developments now play a significant role in determining when to introduce this additional operational layer.

For now, the company is concentrating on meeting strong domestic demand and achieving scale in the U.S. market. Still, the removal of tariffs offers a compelling chance to accelerate entry into Europe. These factors continue to shape the company’s strategy, though it has not yet committed to a specific European rollout date. RIVN carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

RIVN’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates  

Rivian has outperformed the Zacks Automotive-Domestic industry and its peers, Lucid Group, Inc. (LCID - Free Report) and Ford Motor Company (F - Free Report) , in the past six months. RIVN shares have gained 48.6% compared with the industry’s growth of 45.6%. Shares of LCID have plunged 47.7%, while shares of Ford have gained 25.8% in the same period. 

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From a valuation perspective, RIVN appears overvalued compared to the industry and peers. Going by its price/sales ratio, the company is trading at a forward sales multiple of 3.74, higher than the industry’s 3.48. Lucid is trading at a forward P/S ratio of 1.7, while Ford is trading at 0.32.

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

 
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for RIVN’s 2025 and 2026 loss per share has widened by 2 cents and narrowed by a penny, respectively, in the past seven days.

 

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research


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