Rivian is preparing to add a second production shift for the R2 midsize SUV at its Normal, Illinois, plant, as revealed by an employee on Wednesday.
Kyle Kindred, who said he has spent the past year supporting the R2 program across design and manufacturing validation, announced his promotion to R2 Group Leader on LinkedIn.
“I’m looking forward to building on that experience as we ramp production on night shift and move closer to bringing R2 into a full-scale platform,” Kindred wrote.
The reference to ramping production on the night shift is the first employee-level signal that Rivian has begun staffing the second shift — previously outlined in its production plan for the Normal facility.
R2 Production
Rivian has said since the R2’s formal debut that the Normal plant would begin R2 production on a single shift, then add a second later in 2026.
A third shift is planned for 2027.
The plant has a capacity for 215,000 vehicles annually, including up to 155,000 R2s.
Earlier this year, Rivian said it is targeting 62,000 to 67,000 vehicle deliveries in 2026 — with about 20,000 to 25,000 being R2 units.
Kindred’s post suggests the groundwork for the night shift is already underway, with leadership appointments being made ahead of actual production on the second line.
His description of the role as supporting the transition from program startup to full-scale production aligns with what Rivian has described as the next phase of the ramp.
Start of Production
The EV maker began volume and saleable production of the R2 on April 22.
It followed the completion of a tooling shutdown late last year, which the company had used to expand R1 production capacity and prepare the line for the second-generation vehicle.
Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe confirmed the start of production in a live interview on Bloomberg Tech, noting that the plant had resumed operations — despite damage from an EF-1 tornado that struck the south end of the facility on April 17.
The tornado hit Building 2, where the R2’s body and general assembly are located.
Rivian rerouted material flow through alternative dock doors and said it had not altered its production ramp plan as a result of the damage.
The formal production start followed weeks of mounting evidence that the line was already running.
Saleable units with assigned VIN numbers had been spotted as early as the first week of April, with VIN 5 photographed at a charging station in Kearney, Nebraska, while being driven cross-country to Rivian‘s Irvine, California, headquarters.
Employee Deliveries Underway
Rivian delivered the first R2 SUVs to employees earlier this month, consistent with standard automotive practice of placing initial units with internal buyers before external customers.
The company emailed all employees on April 2 about the R2 employee delivery programme for Launch Edition vehicles, with both Rivian and Rivian-VW Technologies Group joint venture employees eligible.
Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid stated at SXSW in March that employees would hold the vehicles for a few months to accumulate mileage and return software experience data to the company, after which external customer deliveries would begin.
Customer Deliveries
Rivian plans to open the public R2 online configurator in May, giving customers the ability to build and price the midsize SUV on the company’s website ahead of the first external deliveries.
The internal configurator for Rivian employees is already live.
Customer deliveries of the R2 Performance Launch Edition — priced from $57,990 — are expected to begin in June.
Reservation holders will receive their estimated time to order that same month.
The Performance Launch Edition is the only configuration available at launch, offered in six exterior colors.
Rivian disclosed on Tuesday that the Launch Edition will not include the Borealis purple shade or Forest Green, both of which will be available on later R2 trims.
The Launch Package includes lifetime access to Autonomy+, a tow package rated at 4,400 pounds, and a Rivian Green anodized aluminum key fob.
Two additional R2 trims are confirmed for later availability. The Premium, at $53,990, is expected in late 2026.
The Standard, the $45,000 entry-level variant Rivian has promoted since the R2’s original unveiling in March 2024, is not expected until late 2027.
Upcoming Earnings
As of press time, Rivian has not commented on the timing of the second shift or confirmed that staffing for it has begun.
The company is scheduled to report first-quarter 2026 results later on Thursday (April 30) after the US market close.
Scaringe and Chief Financial Officer Claire McDonough will take analyst questions at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
The earnings call is expected to provide the most detailed public commentary yet on R2 production cadence, customer delivery sequencing, and the allocation of Launch Package units among the company’s reservation holders.
The timing of the second shift is likely to be among the topics addressed.
