One of the first Rivian R2s delivered to external customers has appeared on the used market at a steep premium, with a private seller in Colorado listing a near-new example for $79,900 — roughly $22,000 above the price the owner would have paid new.
The listing, posted on the marketplace Cars.com, describes a Rivian R2 Performance Launch Edition with just 50 miles on the odometer, offered by a seller in Littleton, Colorado, who states the vehicle “was intended as a present but it is no longer needed.”
The asking price sits about 37.8% above the R2 Performance’s $57,990 starting price, or roughly 34% above the all-in figure once Rivian‘s $1,495 destination charge is added.
Saturday’s listing was first shared on X by Rivian owner and enthusiast Chris Hilbert.
A Near-New Launch Edition
The car matches the only R2 configuration currently available to buy.
Finished in Half Moon Gray over a black leather interior, the listed vehicle carries the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive Performance powertrain, rated at 656 horsepower, along with the 20-inch all-terrain wheels, the lifetime access to Rivian’s Autonomy+ hands-free driving system, and the charging cables, two key cards and remote that come with the Launch Edition.
Its vehicle-identification number, 7PD2EAAB1VN001158, marks it as roughly the 1,158th R2 built at Rivian‘s Normal, Illinois, plant, placing it among the earliest examples produced.
The seller describes the car as new and undriven, offering viewings but no test drives, with an estimated monthly payment of $1,287 over a 72-month loan.
At $79,900, the price exceeds what many buyers will pay for the far larger, more powerful Rivian R1S, underlining how scarcity rather than specification is driving the number.
Scarcity by Design
Customer deliveries began only on June 9, and the sole version available so far is the Performance with Launch Package, with the cheaper Premium, Standard and base trims not due until late 2026 and through 2027.
Rivian is releasing order invitations to reservation holders in rolling batches, each of which unlocks the online configurator that turns a reservation into a firm order, quoting a two-to-six-week wait once an order is confirmed.
The EV maker has been prioritizing buyers near its service and demo centers, existing owners and those with expiring leases.
The queue leaves a gap for anyone who wants an R2 immediately, and a delivered car with a title in hand commands a premium over a reservation that could still be months from fulfillment.
Supply is ramping quickly but remains thin against demand.
Rivian had assigned more than 1,300 R2 vehicle-identification numbers within 10 days of launch, a count that has since climbed past 2,300.
The company began volume, saleable production in late April, yet it is targeting only 20,000 to 25,000 R2 deliveries this year, the majority in the second half.
What Rivian’s Terms Allow
The company’s reservation agreement includes a “No Resellers” clause that lets it unilaterally cancel any preorder it believes was made with the intent to resell the vehicle, and R2 reservations are not transferable to another person.
Those provisions target the reservation stage, however, and Rivian does not impose a penalty on reselling a vehicle once it has been delivered and titled.
In April, Tesla imposed a strict no-resale agreement on the ultra-limited Signature Edition Model S and Model X Plaid, capped at 250 units of each and priced at $159,420.
The company required buyers to sign a binding contract barring resale for a full year to keep the final flagship cars with enthusiasts rather than speculators.
Tesla had earlier applied a similar clause to the Cybertruck, threatening a $50,000 penalty for reselling within the first year without permission.
Well Known Pattern
Rivian‘s own R1T pickup traded on the used market for well above its sticker in 2022, when a limited early build and a long reservation list pushed some examples past $100,000, before prices normalized as production scaled.
The Tesla Cybertruck, the GMC Hummer EV and the Ford F-150 Lightning all drew similar secondary-market premiums at launch, several of which faded within months as supply caught up with demand.
As Rivian works through its reservation queue and adds the lower-priced trims, from the $53,990 Premium later this year to the roughly $45,000 base version in late 2027, the pool of available cars will widen and the case for paying a five-figure premium for an early example will weaken.
Rivian plans to fit a new Gen 3 autonomy stack with LiDAR to R2s built from late 2026, and has said early Launch Edition cars will not be retrofitted, meaning today’s vehicles will lack hardware that later ones carry, a gap that could cap resale values over time.
