Cox Automotive‘s Kelley Blue Book published its second-quarter 2026 EV sales report on Friday, estimating that Rivian sold 11,405 vehicles in the US between April and June.
The figure is 789 units below the 12,194 deliveries the Irvine, California-based automaker reported on July 2 — and the gap appears to point directly at the R2, the mid-size SUV that began customer deliveries in June.
Cox’s model-level breakdown accounts for three Rivian nameplates: the R1S SUV at 6,183 units, the R1T pickup at 1,219, and the EDV commercial van line at 4,003.
Combined, those three models equal 11,405 — the exact brand-level total Cox Automotive assigns to Rivian for the quarter.
Customer orders for the R2 opened on June 9, but the model does not appear as a separate line item in the report.
R2 registrations captured during the quarter would have been folded into the report’s catch-all “Other Models” category, which logged 1,252 units across all brands not individually disclosed.
Both data sources were in lockstep during the first quarter, when no R2 volume existed.
Rivian reported 10,365 deliveries for January to March.
Cox Automotive‘s Q1 model-level breakdown — derived from the same report’s year-to-date figures minus Q2 — produces an identical 10,365 when R1S, R1T, and EDV totals are summed.
Zero discrepancy in a quarter with no R2 activity strengthens the case that the Q2 gap could be attributable to the new model.
What Community Tracked
VIN-tracking data compiled by Rivian owners and reported by EV in late June suggested the automaker was on track to deliver more than 1,100 R2 units before the quarter closed.
BNP Paribas had modeled fewer than 400 R2 deliveries for the same period.
At 789 units, the figure implied by Cox Automotive sits between those two markers.
Rivian attributed the second quarter’s delivery beat to growth in EDV and R1 sales “coupled with the introduction of R2 deliveries.”
Cox Automotive relies on state-level registration data that can take weeks to flow through, and typically adds new models to its tracking with a delay.
Rivian‘s direct-to-consumer sales model, which bypasses traditional dealership networks, adds a further wrinkle — registrations may not immediately appear in the same databases that capture franchise-dealer transactions.
Delivery Guidance
Last week, Rivian raised its full-year 2026 delivery guidance to 65,000–70,000 vehicles.
Reaching the midpoint of the revised range requires roughly 45,000 more deliveries across the third and fourth quarters — close to double the first-half pace. The R2 is expected to carry most of that acceleration.
Earlier this year, Rivian has guided for 20,000 to 25,000 R2 deliveries in 2026, with 5,000 of those targeted at California alone, according to an EPA filing.
The only configuration currently available is the R2 Performance with Launch Package, priced at $57,990 before a $1,495 destination charge.
A Premium trim at $53,990 is expected later this year, while a rear-wheel-drive Standard model starting at $48,490 is slated for early 2027.
Rivian has also teased an entry-level variant at approximately $45,000 for late 2027, positioning the lineup against Tesla‘s Model Y — which remains the segment leader at 84,863 US sales in Q2, according to the same Cox Automotive data.
Broader US EV market fell 20.5% in Q2
Rivian‘s quarterly delivery growth came against a shrinking market.
Cox Automotive estimates total US EV sales at 247,226 units in the second quarter, down 20.5% from 311,064 a year earlier.
Year-to-date volumes through June stand at 462,892, a 23.8% decline from the first half of 2025.
Sales have contracted since the $7,500 federal EV tax credit expired last September, which had pulled demand forward into the third quarter of 2025.
Tesla accounted for 50.5% of the Q2 EV market with 124,800 estimated US sales, down 13.1% year over year.
Lucid Motors saw a slight increase of 0.7% to 2,657 units as Gravity production ramped and Air sales declined.
Rivian‘s 7.6% year-over-year increase to 11,405 units placed it among a handful of brands that grew in a quarter where most contracted, including Cadillac, Kia, Lexus, Subaru, and Ram.
The Irvine-based EV maker held a 4.6% segment share between April and June, up from 3.4% a year earlier.
Rivian reports second-quarter financial results on July 30 after market close.
