Rivian said it plans to begin production of customer units of its R2 SUV “this spring,” offering a more concrete timeline for a model expected to significantly expand the company’s reach into more affordable price segments.
The company founded and led by RJ Scaringe unveiled the mid-size model in March 2024, alongside the crossover SUV R3 and an off-road focused variant named R3X.
The Irvine-based EV maker rolled out the first Manufacturing Validation Build (MVB) vehicles last week at its Normal, Illinois plant.
In a blog post Friday, Rivian said the early builds “represent an important phase in development where we validate and perfect the quality of vehicles coming off the line at our factory.”
“As we head toward the start of production in spring, this continuous feedback loop of testing, refining and updating ensures we are delivering repeatable quality at scale building vehicles that exceed our customers’ expectations,” the company said.
Rivian had previously said the launch and first deliveries would take place in the first half of the year without specifying timing.
Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe posted images last week showing the camouflaged mid-size SUV charging at a Rivian station amid the promotional road trip along Route 66. A close-up showed a Route 66 sticker on the vehicle’s rear window.
In the new blog post, the company’s senior Engineer and vehicle driver in the Route 66 Emmanuel Ibarra said that the validation process “ensures we are delivering repeatable quality at scale building vehicles that exceed our customers’ expectations.”
“This drive is where we validate the promise we’re making with R2. We’ve said it should be a vehicle that makes longer trips and everyday adventures feel accessible and easy,” Ibarra said.
The engineer said that the findings immediately “translate directly into software fixes, process changes, or better diagnostics, all of which make the final product more dependable for the people who will rely on it.”
Rivian first planned an initial launch planned for 2025 and production slated for a new factory in Georgia.
Manufacturing delays and the priority of scaling R1 production pushed the debut to 2026, with the Normal plant now set to build the vehicle.
Bill of Materials
During an earnings call in February 2025, Scaringe said the company had sourced 95% of the bill of materials for the R2.
“And the bill of materials in R2 is expected to be roughly half of what we have in R1,” he noted. By then, Rivian had completed winter testing on the first development builds.
The R2 has exceeded 100,000 pre-orders, according to Tim Fallon, Rivian‘s former vice president of manufacturing.
Fallon left the company later that year to join Stellantis as head of manufacturing in North America.
