Rivian began emailing selected R2 reservation holders on Tuesday, offering early access to Borealis, the light-shifting purple and the last of the EV maker’s eight announced colours for the model.
“Early access to Borealis starts now,” the email reads. “You are getting early access to R2 with Borealis paint. This new exterior color is available now as a paid upgrade, so order yours soon to be one of the first.”
The message, sent from the company’s customer service address under the subject line “You get early access to a new color for R2”, was shared by X user ‘Arkham’, who posted a screenshot at 3:43pm on Tuesday with the caption “Just got access to borealis”.
Rivian has not made the colour generally available.
Its public configurator still carried a “Coming September” label alongside the $2,000 price on Wednesday.
The Last of Eight
Borealis completes the R2 palette announced in March.
It carries the same $2,000 surcharge as Catalina Cove, Launch Green and Midnight, a tier above Forest Green and Half Moon Grey at $1,500. Esker Silver remains the only no-cost exterior.
Rivian describes it as a dynamic, light-shifting purple inspired by the Aurora Borealis. The shade was introduced on the R1T and R1S at Miami Art Week in December 2025 as a limited edition before being carried to the R2.
Ahead of Schedule
When Rivian detailed the R2 Launch Edition palette in late April, Borealis was restricted to the broader Performance trim and was not expected until 2027. The configurator carried a 2027 label when it went live in mid-May.
It is now available on the Launch Package, the only R2 configuration Rivian currently sells.
The company corrected its own timeline on X in August, after an earlier reply had grouped Borealis with Forest Green and Coastal Cloud Signature. Coastal Cloud and Forest Green would arrive later in August, it said, with Borealis following in September.
The Previous Two Colours
Rivian emailed selected early reservation holders on August 18 and 19 with access to Forest Green and Coastal Cloud Signature, quoting an eight to twelve week delivery window against four to eight for launch colours.
The first Coastal Cloud car reached a customer on August 26, within a week. Both options went generally available to all R2 buyers last Wednesday.
That is about twenty-five days from early access to open ordering. On the same pattern Borealis would reach the full configurator in the second week of October, though Rivian has given no date.
A community sample of owner-linked configurations compiled by Rivian Roamer put Coastal Cloud at 18% of tracked builds and Forest Green at 5% within weeks of opening. Those are community counts rather than company figures.
Chip Newcom, Rivian’s VP of Investor Relations, cited the Coastal Cloud interior at Goldman Sachs’s Communacopia conference last week as an example of each new option bringing increased interest from reservation holders.
The Ramp Behind It
Rivian is adding colours while scaling R2 output at its Normal, Illinois plant.
Community-tracked VIN assignments passed 9,400 by August 29, from about 6,000 in early August, a pace of 115 to 120 a day on a single shift. A second shift is planned for this month, though Chief Operating Officer Javier Varela said on the July 30 earnings call that no material volume contribution is expected from it until the fourth quarter.
Rivian has guided to 20,000 to 25,000 R2 deliveries this year within 65,000 to 70,000 overall.
Only the R2 Performance with Launch Package can be ordered, from $57,990. A Launch Package in Borealis therefore starts at $59,990.
The Premium at $53,990 is due later this year and the Standard Long Range at $48,490 in the first half of 2027.
