PARK CITY, Utah — Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe is energetic as he makes his way through displays for the electric vehicle maker’s new R2 SUV.

The company founder moves quickly from the EV’s suspension and software systems to different models of the R2 that will soon begin to reach American consumers, including a roughly $45,000 entry-level model that Rivian said Tuesday is being pulled ahead from late 2027 to next summer.

But there’s an anxiousness in Scaringe’s voice as he talks to employees and media at the R2 launch event in western Utah and prepares to release the vehicle, starting Tuesday for current reservation holders, to the world.

Scaringe founded the EV maker in 2009. He has grown Rivian into a company with a $22 billion market cap that ranked highest in Consumer Reports’ most recent customer satisfaction survey, but lowest in predictive industry reliability due to consumer-reported problems with its early vehicles.

That’s unusual for an automotive brand. Typically, the more problems a brand has, the lower its customer satisfactions rank — but not Rivian.

It’s a testament to the brand Scaringe, a 43-year-old automotive enthusiast and tech entrepreneur, has built. That kind of customer satisfaction is also harder to maintain as a brand grows, which is Rivian’s goal with the R2.

The new SUV is meant to transform Rivian from a niche EV manufacturer that sells luxury vehicles — largely in California and states where electric vehicles sell well — to a more mainstream brand that can not only compete against U.S. EV leader Tesla but with broader mainstream automotive brands such as Jeep and Subaru.

“Its goal is for it to be a high-volume product,” Scaringe told CNBC. “Certainly, we’re going to draw on some Tesla customers, but the market of non-Tesla customers is many, many times larger.”

Wall Street analysts have described the R2 as Rivian’s make-or-break moment, comparable to Tesla moving from its pricey, first-generation EVs to the mainstream Model 3 and Model Y that currently dominate the U.S. market.

Scaringe doesn’t object to such a categorization.

“When you build a company from scratch, everything is make or break. There is no company if things don’t work,” he said. “Saying that it’s ‘make or break,’ it’s like, of course, it is.”

Shares of Rivian were down by about 5% during intraday trading Tuesday following the new timing announcement for the entry-level model as well as expert reviews being released for the R2, which were largely positive.

Once full production of R2 is online, Scaringe said, the company expects the sweet spot for sales to be in the low $50,000s, which Cox Automotive reports would put it slightly above the U.S. average selling price of $49,000 and below the average EV selling price of more than $55,000.

That pricing and the vehicle’s size place it in the heart of the compact and mid-size SUV markets, which Cox Automotive reports accounted for 45% of U.S. sales last year.

For EVs especially, the Tesla Model Y dominates in the U.S. Cox Automotive estimates Tesla, which does not report sales by region, sold more than 357,500 Model Y units, or roughly 40% of the U.S. EV market, in 2025.

“I think it’ll do well. Rivian has a strong brand and there’s room for another compelling vehicle, especially in that midsize segment,” said Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of industry insights at Cox Automotive, which is an investor in Rivian. “It’s not just EV, they’re going to try to compete and pull from [internal combustion engine] vehicles as well.”

Challenges for Rivian remain abundant, Valdez said. In addition to slower-than-expected EV adoption and lack of charging infrastructure, the company also needs to prove it can ramp up production quickly without quality issues.

Of the non-EVs in the segments, the Toyota Rav4 and Honda CR-V lead the compact SUV segment, while the larger Ford Explorer and Jeep Grand Cherokee lead midsize SUVs.

“We want people to look and just say … ‘it’s the best car in that price range,’ and by virtue of that, it’ll draw new customers, non-EV customers,” Scaringe said.

To do so, Scaringe believes, Rivian will also need to become a leader in software and in-vehicle technologies such as automated driving and artificial intelligence.

Rivian received outside validation for its emerging technology efforts in the form of a $5.8 billion deal with Volkswagen that includes putting Rivian’s software and electrical architecture in the German automaker’s future EVs.

Volkswagen is now Rivian’s largest shareholder, followed by longtime backer Amazon, which remains its largest customer for delivery vehicles.

The R2 will launch with an advanced driver-assistance system, or ADAS, that will largely control itself under certain conditions with driver monitoring, but it will not have an AI voice assistant until later this year. Both systems will continue to be updated through over-the-air updates, according to Rivian.

Scaringe said he views the company’s emerging software services as being just as important as the vehicles.

“You need them both. It’s like asking is the heart or the brain more important in a human. You can’t survive without both,” Scaringe said. “It’s a false binary. I don’t see them as separate.”

Japanese entertainment giant Sony on Friday said it expects annual profit to rise as revenue from some business segments in the fourth quarter helped offset headwinds from a memory price crunch.

Here are Sony’s fourth-quarter results compared with LSEG estimates:

• Revenue: 3.036 trillion Japanese yen ($19.4 billion) compared to analyst estimates of 2.896 trillion yen.
• Operating profit: 164 billion yen compared to analyst estimates of 278 billion yen.

While hardware sales fell to 110 billion yen in the fourth quarter, compared to 183 billion yen in the same period last year, revenue was bolstered by strong performances in Sony’s image sensor and music businesses.

Total sales of the PlayStation 5 fell to 1.5 million units in the fourth quarter, down from 2.8 million a year ago.

Sony predicted that net profit for its upcoming financial year ending March 2027 will rise 13% to 1.16 trillion yen, compared to the 1.03 trillion yen profit it made this year.

The company also said it would buy back up to 500 billion yen in shares over the next year.

Shares in the company remained steady, with the stock trading down 0.5% as of market close on May 8.

Nvidia is expanding deals for its autonomous vehicle development business to Hyundai Motor, Nissan Motor and Isuzu, as well as Chinese automakers BYD and Geely, the software and chip giant announced Monday.

The new tie-ups are for Nvidia’s Drive Hyperion platform for AVs. The system helps companies develop and deploy driver-assist and autonomous driving capabilities for Level 4 AVs, which are capable of driving without human intervention under predefined areas or circumstances.

“We’ve been working on self-driving cars for a long time. The ChatGPT moment of self-driving cars has arrived,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Monday during the company’s GTC conference. “We now know we could successfully autonomously drive cars, and today, we are announcing four new partners for Nvidia’s robotaxi-ready platform. … The number of robotaxi-ready cars in the future are going to be incredible.”

No vehicles on sale to consumers today are capable of driving themselves without human monitoring or intervention, but some companies, such as Alphabet’s Waymo, offer ride-hailing fleets with Level 4 self-driving vehicles, also known as robotaxis. Most vehicles on sale today are considered Level 2, with drivers needing to continually monitor the systems.

Drive Hyperion is part of what Nvidia calls its “end-to-end” AV platform that includes data center training, large-scale simulations and in-vehicle computing. The company does not produce or sell AVs or many of the components needed to operate such vehicles.

Current Nvidia customers for Drive Hyperion include many self-driving companies such as Aurora and Nuro, as well as other more consumer-facing businesses such as Sony Group, Uber Technologies, Jeep parent Stellantis and electric vehicle maker Lucid Group.

AVs are important to Nvidia, as self-driving cars remain one of the primary areas where the chipmaker can show growth outside of artificial intelligence.

Many believe AI could be key to the proliferation of AVs, which Wall Street analysts and automotive executives have targeted as a multitrillion-dollar growth industry.

The new companies add to a growing list of such tie-ups for Nvidia, as the chipmaker and the automotive and technology industries try to capitalize on and proliferate AVs after years of failed ventures for robotaxis.

Waymo has led the AV industry for years, while others such as Tesla, Uber and Amazon’s Zoox attempt to catch up.

General Motors-backed Cruise, which was previously viewed as a leader alongside Waymo, disbanded amid controversies after a pedestrian was dragged by one of its vehicles in San Francisco. GM spent more than $10 billion on Cruise before ending the robotaxi operations in 2024.

— CNBC’s Katie Tarasov contributed to this report.

DETROIT — Automakers are largely sitting on the advertising sidelines during this year’s Super Bowl amid uncertainty in the U.S. automotive industry involving sales, tariffs and regulations.

Carmakers — historically major buyers of ads during the big game — have been inconsistent with advertising during the Super Bowl in recent years, with only a handful putting out spots each year.

“It’s definitely been on the decline,” said Sean Muller, CEO of ad data company iSpot. “Autos are tightening their belts, and they’re probably pulling back on their budgets, and certainly that’s reflected. I think the Super Bowl is a good barometer for all of this.”

Automakers accounted for 40% of Super Bowl ad minutes in 2012, but dropped all the way to 7% by 2025, according to iSpot. Only three automakers are expected to air ads, totaling roughly two minutes, during this year’s game.

Tim Mahoney, a longtime automotive marketing executive, said it’s a balancing act when it comes to Super Bowl advertising. He said a company has to have the right product, ad campaign, and, of course, capital to stand out and get a return on its investment.

“Super Bowl is just a massive platform, but it has gotten so expensive,” Mahoney, who worked for GM, VW, Subaru and Porsche, told CNBC. “There are sometimes interesting ways to navigate around it. … Adjacencies can be smart.”

During Mahoney’s tenure, Subaru became the presenting sponsor of Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl and GM’s Chevrolet brand “blacked out” TV screens just ahead of the Super Bowl for an ad for its in-vehicle Wi-Fi in 2015.

Outside of the Super Bowl, automakers have increased sports advertising and embraced more streaming and regional advertising over national reach, according to iSpot.

“They’re not cutting back in live sports,” Muller said, citing iSpot data that automakers now represent roughly 60% of spend on live sports.

Stellantis, which is in the midst of a company turnaround plan, will focus this year on the 250th anniversary of the U.S. as its major marketing push in addition to more business-oriented spending and a provocative social media campaign for Jeep featuring a singing fish it launched this week.

Nissan Motor, which last advertised during the Super Bowl in 2022, is also experimenting this year with parallel advertising.

The Japan-based automaker on Friday released a comedic, high-energy “Big Game” social media ad promoting a chips-and-dip holder for its Nissan Rogue SUV. The “Nissan Dip Seat” ad stars chef and “The Bear” actor Matty Matheson promoting the fictional product. It also promotes a sweepstakes to win one of the vehicles.

“One of the key things for us is that we wanted to kind of find a way that was more social in nature. It’s been a part of what our overall strategy has been this year,” Nissan U.S. CMO Allyson Witherspoon told CNBC.

Witherspoon declined to discuss the cost of the spot, but confirmed it was less than it would have spent to air a traditional Super Bowl ad.

Others, such as Honda Motor, will look to the Olympics as their major ad spending. Honda is sponsoring U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams for the Winter Games in Milan this year as well as at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

“Super Bowl is one moment in time. The Olympics has so many verticals you can dip into and tell these stories,” said Ed Beadle, who leads marketing for American Honda Motor.

The opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics took place on Friday in Milan. It also kicks off a month that Comcast’s NBCUniversal — which will be airing the Olympics, Super Bowl and NBA All-Star weekend — has coined “Legendary February.”

DETROIT — General Motors is on pace to be the top U.S.-traded automaker stock of 2025, as shares of GM are having their best year since the Detroit company’s reemergence from bankruptcy in 2009.

GM stock is up over 55% to a record of more than $80 per share, as of Friday’s close, topping the company’s previous annual increase of 48.3% last year. That includes a nearly 13% rise so far in December, adding to five consecutive months of share gains, according to FactSet.

Several factors have been driving the share increase. But GM CEO Mary Barra and other executives have contended for years that the automaker’s stock has been significantly undervalued given its consistent earnings performance.

“Great vehicles, innovative technology, a rewarding customer experience, along with strong financial results, will continue to set GM apart in an increasingly competitive landscape,” Barra said during the company’s last quarterly earnings call in October.

Amid the stock’s run-up, Barra has significantly cut her position in the company. She has exercised options or sold roughly 1.8 million shares this year, valued at more than $73 million, according to public filings confirmed by GM.

As of the last public filing in September, Barra still owned more than 433,500 shares valued at over $35 million, with much of her annual awards granted in options and stock.

GM’s stock performance compares with a 17% yearly increase for Tesla as of Friday’s close, a 34% jump for Ford Motor and a 15% loss for Chrysler parent Stellantis. Other U.S.-traded automakers such as Honda Motor and Toyota Motor have had smaller annual gains.

GM ‘s most recent quarterly earnings were a major catalyst for Wall Street analyst bullishness that led to reratings and price target increases after the third quarter.

The automaker’s quarterly adjusted earnings per share have topped Wall Street estimates every quarter except the second quarter of 2022 over the past five years, according to average expectations of analysts compiled by FactSet.

Wall Street analysts overall have cited GM’s cash generation, earnings resilience and track record in delivering shareholder returns, including stock buybacks, as reasons for their optimism. The automaker also is expected to greatly benefit from regulation changes under the Trump administration, despite ongoing tariffs.

UBS recently increased its 12-month price target on GM stock by 14% to $97 per share, while naming the company its top autos pick heading into 2026. Morgan Stanley earlier this month also upgraded GM to overweight, with a $90 per share price target.

“In our view, General Motors leads the D3 in the North America and Global market with steady unit sales growth, [average transaction price] growth, disciplined incentive spend, and inventory management. This has resulted in better [earnings before interest and taxes] margin and return metrics than peers,” Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Percoco said in a Dec. 7 investor note.

GM stock has cumulatively been in the black on a weekly basis since June. The largest weekly gain of 19.3% occurred when the automaker reported its third-quarter earnings on Oct. 21. Those results beat Wall Street’s expectations and the company raised its annual guidance, adding that next year’s earnings are expected to be better than 2025’s.

GM stock’s has also seen a boost from some external factors. The Trump administration has loosened U.S. fuel economy and emissions standards, removed related penalties that were imposed under the Biden administration, and renegotiated its trade deal with South Korea, a major manufacturing hub for GM. Meanwhile, the industry has been seeing a slowdown in less profitable EV sales.

“GM is effectively a regional (NA) [automaker] and we believe they are well positioned to benefit from the relaxed US regulatory environment (emissions and fuel economy),” UBS analyst Joseph Spak said in a Dec. 15 investor note raising the per share price.

GM CFO Paul Jacobson earlier this month said the company will continue stock buybacks.

“As long as the stock remains as undervalued as it is, the priority is to buy back shares. And I think you’ll continue to see that from us going forward,” he said during a UBS investor conference.

GM is rated overweight with an $80.86 target price, according to analyst averages compiled by FactSet.

— CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.

Correction: Lucid shares are down for the year. An earlier version misstated their move.

Electric vehicle maker Rivian Automotive has developed a custom chip, car computer and new artificial intelligence models that will enable it to bring self-driving features to its forthcoming vehicles, the company revealed at its first “Autonomy and AI Day” on Thursday in Palo Alto, California.

Shares of Rivian were off roughly 3% during the hourlong event, and fell further as OpenAI made its own AI announcement Thursday, revealing its most advanced model yet.

Rivian also said it plans to roll out an Autonomy+ subscription with “continuously expanding capabilities” to customers of its second-generation vehicles in early 2026, to be powered by its Rivian Autonomy Processors and autonomy computers.

The Autonomy+ offering will be priced at $2,500 as a one-time upfront purchase or is available for $49.99 per month to start. By comparison, competitor Tesla offers its premium FSD (Supervised) option for $8,000 upfront or a $99 per month fee.

“AI is enabling us to create technology and customer experiences at a rate that is completely different from what we’ve seen in the past,” Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said during the hourlong event.

Company executives said in a statement that a near-future software update will include a “Universal Hands-Free,” capability, allowing Rivian customers “hands-free driving” on over 3.5 million miles of roads in North America, covering the vast majority of marked roads in the U.S.

Scaringe said the new advanced driver-assistance system will continue to improve as more miles are driven, learning through a data flywheel through reinforced learning.

Unlike its primary competitor, Tesla, Rivian said it intends to use lidar, or light detection and ranging, systems and radar sensors in its forthcoming “R2” cars to enable “level 4,” or fully automated driving, as defined by SAE Levels of Driving Automation.

A passenger can sleep in the back seat in a level 4 self-driving car while it carries them to their destination in normal traffic and weather conditions. Waymo, the Alphabet-owned robotaxi leader in the U.S., considers its vehicles level 4.

Scaringe said Thursday the company’s forthcoming self-driving vehicles enable the company to pursue robotaxis, which Tesla has promised for years but has yet to launch.

“Now, while our initial focus will be on personally owned vehicles, which today represent a vast majority of the miles to the United States, this also enables us to pursue opportunities in the rideshare space,” Scaringe said during the event.

Rivian is not alone in aiming to deliver autonomous systems that meet level 4 expectations, while rolling out partially automated features along the way to drivers who generally want these to reduce fatigue on long drives or make them safer behind the wheel overall.

Tesla and General Motors are working on their own proprietary driverless systems, while Honda, Lucid and Nissan have partnered with venture-backed autonomous vehicle tech startups (Helm.AI, Nuro and Wayve respectively) to develop similar systems with a range of different technical approaches.

Powering Rivian’s self-driving aspirations will be a new in-house chip developed by the company, which is set to launch in 2026. Vidya Rajagopalan, Rivian vice president of electrical hardware, said the chip uses “multi-chip module” packaging and has “high memory bandwidth,” which is “key for AI applications.” Rivian’s chip boasts bandwidth of 205 gigabytes per second.

“Rivian is uniquely positioned to move from a software-defined vehicle and bring to the world an AI-defined vehicle,” Rivian Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid said.

The automaker also announced a new AI-powered “Rivian Assistant,” a next-generation voice interface launching in early 2026 on its first- and second-generation vehicles.

Rivian is under pressure to prove its future growth potential to investors and to grow its customer base amid slowing sales of battery electric vehicles in the U.S. and competition from Chinese EV makers internationally.

The fully electric vehicle segment has experienced a sales slump domestically after the Trump administration put an early end in September to a $7,500 federal tax credit previously available for EV buyers in the U.S.

Shares of Rivian are up about 25% this year, but remain off more than 80% since the company’s 2021 initial public offering amid internal and external challenges.