A Rivian R2 that appears to be the entry-level Standard trim has been photographed on public roads wearing Illinois manufacturer test plates, according to an image shared on X by user ‘RivianTrackr’.
The photo, taken from a car behind the R2 at a traffic light, shows a white R2 with an Illinois plate marked “MFR,” the designation for vehicles registered to a manufacturer. Rivian builds the R2 at its plant in Normal, Illinois.
“A buddy of mine just sent me this, that’s a Rivian R2 Standard trim being tested. The rear wiper gives it away,” he wrote on X.
Rivian has not confirmed that it has begun testing the Standard, which it lists for 2027 on its website and which would be the cheapest way into the R2 at $44,990.
The car has a conventional wiper arm on its rear glass and a strip of camouflage-style wrap between the window and the full-width rear light bar.
Rivian’s R2 page says “Rear drop glass is included with R2 Performance and Premium,” a feature that lets the rear window retract. The Standard does not list it, leaving it with a fixed rear window that can carry an ordinary wiper.
Scaringe named the same feature on Thursday’s call as one of the dividing lines between the trims. “So we have a premium trim and then a standard trim. That’s the — that’s like the interior appointments, the rear drop glass that links to that, a few other features within the vehicle,” he said.
The photo does not show which powertrain the car uses, and a fixed window on its own does not prove the trim. One reply to the post pointed to a black line under the R2 badge as a further difference.
Scaringe has shown off the feature himself. Photos of his own R2 in Laguna Beach in February showed the rear glass lowered, and he wrote on Instagram: “Lots of R2 rear drop glass testing this weekend!”
Not the First Sighting
Rivian has shown the Standard before, and manufacturer-plated R2s have surfaced elsewhere, including a camouflaged one in British Columbia in June. The R2 as a whole entered final validation in February.
At the R2 delivery launch on June 9, the company displayed a pre-production unit R2 Standard vehicle.
In August, Rivian owner and X user Chris Hilbert posted photos of an R2 in California, crediting X user ‘GoForN8.’
“Rivian will often times do mules specific to what they’re testing – based on the wheels/calipers this could be a R2 RWD or R2 AWD Standard,” Hilbert added the next day.
In July, an owner collecting his R2 at the Normal plant photographed a non-Performance R2 on the assembly line, though Rivian has not said which trim it was.
What the Standard Offers
Rivian lists the R2 Standard from $44,990 with a single rear motor, 350 horsepower, 0 to 60 mph in 5.9 seconds and an estimated 275 miles of range on 19-inch all-season wheels.
The company has said a rear-wheel-drive Long Range version will start at $48,490. Its Standard interior includes heated front seats and a heated steering wheel but no ventilated or heated rear seats.
The Premium, at $53,990, pairs two motors with 450 horsepower and an EPA-estimated 330 miles, and is still listed as “Late 2026.” The $57,990 Performance, the only R2 on sale, began deliveries on June 9.
‘2027’ Three Times, Then ‘Late 2026’
The timing of the cheaper trims has been in question since Rivian’s second-quarter call.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer RJ Scaringe told three analysts on July 30 that the additional trims would arrive in early 2027.
“We are looking forward to introducing the other trims, our mid-spec and our base or standard spec, as we look at the early part of 2027,” he said in his first answer.
Asked whether Rivian would deliver a material number of Premium trims this year, he said: “We’ll be introducing the premium and our standard trims, as we look at early 2027.”
He then addressed buyers directly. “For any customers that are waiting for a standard trim or a premium trim, don’t worry. We’re on it. Those will be coming in the early part of 2027.”
In a fourth answer, he said Rivian’s guidance reflected reservation conversions “but ultimately beginning the delivery of those different trims in 2027.”
Rivian disputed the report of a delay the next day. “The R2 Premium trim will become available in late 2026, with the R2 Standard trim following in early 2027,” a company spokesperson told EV.
“‘Available’ refers to when customer orders and initial deliveries are scheduled to begin for each respective trim,” the company said in a further response.
No Dates on the Q3 Call
Rivian gave no dates for the new trims on its third-quarter call on Thursday.
“Reservation conversion rates for the launch edition R2 remained higher in the quarter than our expectations. We are really excited for the launch of additional variants in the coming months,” Scaringe said in his prepared remarks.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Tom Narayan noted that Rivian had been “selling the kind of higher-end trims,” adding: “But then next year, you’re going to have the kind of lower-end trims.” He asked about demand for them given their lower range, and about their margins.
Scaringe did not dispute the timing. He said there were two main variables, the trim and the propulsion, and laid out the lineup. “So we have all-wheel drive performance, we have all-wheel drive base, and then we have a rear-wheel drive variant,” he said. “And then within the rear-wheel drive variant, we have a larger pack and a smaller pack.”
He said the range is meant to “capture customers from that $45,000 price point all the way up to the $57,000 price point.”
“We’ve been able to very intentionally sequence the nature of launching with a high-price variant,” Scaringe said, before “bringing in these other trims as our volume grows, such that in the end, it supports a healthy, positive gross margin for the R2 business.”
He said the early ramp on a single shift limited Rivian’s ability to absorb fixed costs, and that “as we grow volume, the actual cost structure of the vehicle comes down quite considerably.”
Asked by Needham’s Chris Pierce about converting test drives into orders, Scaringe pointed to the launch trim. “We launched with the launch variant. And so that’s our premium performance trim,” he said.
“And we had certain assumptions around what the conversion for that would be, recognizing it’s the most expensive R2. And the conversion to date has exceeded our expectations,” he added. “That doesn’t take away from how excited we are for the other trims to also come in.”
UBS analyst Joseph Spak noted that “since you announced R2 pricing in March earlier this year, there’s been a lot of inflation, whether it’s memory, PCB, other electronics, steel, copper.”
Scaringe said Rivian had “really been focused to find other mechanisms to offset that and to enable us to still deliver on the various trims that we’ve talked about, the base trim starting at $45,000 and the top spec trim being at about $57,000.”
He also said Rivian had removed “what we call our standard trim for R1” and moved that model upmarket “because of where R2 sits in terms of pricing,” after it dropped the R1’s Dual Standard in June.
Neither the third-quarter earnings release nor the shareholder presentation gave a timeline for the Premium or Standard trims.
The only R2 variant Scaringe dated was the version with LiDAR, which he said would go through an employee program late this year and become available in 2027, without giving a customer date.
“In the fourth quarter, we expect R2 to represent the majority of our total delivery volume,” said Derek Mulvey, who became Interim Chief Financial Officer on Friday. He said R2 would help Rivian “achieve a positive Automotive gross margin exit rate for the year.”
Rivian expects to deliver at least 25,200 vehicles in the fourth quarter, after raising the bottom of its 2026 outlook to 67,000.
