Rivian Can Now Sell You a Truck Directly in Washington State

What happened

Rivian has secured a motor vehicle dealer license in Washington state, the company said. The license lets it sell directly to consumers from its own locations in the state.

Until a new law took effect in June, Tesla was the only brand allowed to sell direct in Washington. Rivian customers in the state could buy a vehicle, but had to do it online or by travelling out of state. Staff at Rivian's Seattle showroom could display cars but could not discuss pricing or take orders.

How it got there

Washington's franchise law generally bars carmakers from owning dealerships that sell their own vehicles. A 2014 law carved out any manufacturer holding a state dealer license on January 1, 2014. It did not name Tesla, but Tesla was the only company it covered.

Bills to extend direct sales to other EV makers died in 2021, 2024 and 2025. Rivian changed tactics. It backed a committee, the Washington Coalition for Consumer Choice and Innovation, registered in December 2025 to put a direct-sales initiative on the November 2026 ballot. Rivian put in about $4.8 million in cash and in-kind support and recorded a further $20 million pledge.

Rivian, Lucid and the Washington State Auto Dealers Association then negotiated a narrower bill instead. Senate Bill 6354 passed the Senate 47-2 and the House 84-9 in March and was signed on March 24. The ballot committee refunded $4,005,942.80 to Rivian, and no initiative number was ever assigned.

What the new law actually allows

The carve-out is deliberately narrow. A manufacturer may own dealerships only if it:

• •is incorporated in the United States
• •has never had a franchise agreement with a dealer
• •operated at least one service facility in Washington as of January 1, 2026
• •exclusively produces battery-electric vehicles, at least 300 of which were registered in the state before that date

The law names no company, but those conditions describe Rivian and Lucid and exclude almost everyone else. A qualifying manufacturer must file a sworn affidavit, and the state must revoke the license within 30 days if it stops meeting the conditions. Ineligible manufacturers face a $10,000 penalty for each retail sale or lease.

Lawmakers wrote into the statute's findings that the authorization should be applied narrowly to prevent erosion of the dealer franchise system. Honda, Ford, General Motors and national automaker groups opposed the bill. The dealers' association backed it as the result of joint good faith deliberations.

The footprint

Rivian has leased the former Evergreen Ford dealership in Issaquah, east of Seattle: 32,034 square feet with 13 service bays and 21 chargers. The lease starts January 1 and the site is expected to open in early spring 2027, creating 35 jobs. Rivian already has a showroom at Seattle's University Village and service centers in Bellevue, Bothell, Fife and Seattle.

There were 9,800 Rivians registered in Washington as of mid-September, against 122,573 Teslas and 915 Lucids.

Why this matters beyond Washington

Rivian has said it could use the ballot approach again in Ohio, Nebraska or Arkansas. That is the significant part: the playbook of threatening an initiative and then negotiating a narrow bill worked.

There is a direct cost to buyers in both directions. The law raises the title fee on dealer sales and leases in Washington to $40 from $15 from October 1 through 2036, with part of the increase funding EV rebates for low-income buyers. If you are buying or leasing in Washington, that fee change is worth knowing before you sign.

For shoppers in the other 49 states, nothing changes yet. But the franchise rules that determine whether you can order a car online and have it delivered, or must go through a dealer, are being renegotiated state by state. That is worth following if you have ever wondered why buying a car works differently from buying anything else.

Sources: Rivian; Washington State Legislature; Washington Public Disclosure Commission; InsideEVs; The Seattle Times; Washington State Standard; via eletric-vehicles.com.