Rivian sold an estimated 3,456 R2 SUVs in the US in the third quarter, the model’s first full quarter on sale, according to Kelley Blue Book data released by Cox Automotive on Monday.
The R2 accounted for 18.0% of Rivian’s estimated 19,239 US sales in the quarter, behind the R1S SUV and the electric delivery vans the company builds for Amazon.
Rivian does not break out R2 sales, so the Cox figure is the first estimate of the model’s US sales for the full quarter.
The company delivered a record 19,248 vehicles in the period, up 57.8% from the second quarter, without saying how many were R2s.
The Lineup
Rivian’s EDV 500 and EDV 700 vans led its US sales with 8,469 units, up 220.9% from a year earlier and 44.0% of the brand’s total, according to Cox.
The R1S SUV sold 5,582 units, down 31.8% from a year earlier, and the R1T pickup 1,732, down 27.2%.
Combined R1 sales of 7,314 were 30.8% lower than a year earlier and 1.2% below the second quarter.
The vans, not the R2, drove most of Rivian’s growth from the second quarter.
Cox’s estimate of Rivian’s US sales rose by 7,834 units from the second quarter, of which the vans contributed 4,466, or 57.0%, and the R2 3,456, or 44.1%, while R1 sales slipped by 88.
Rivian’s estimated US sales rose 45.7% from a year earlier, one of the strongest gains in the industry, Cox said.
US EV sales rose 7.7% from the second quarter to 266,630 units, the highest quarterly total in a year, but were 38.6% below the third quarter of 2025, when buyers rushed to claim the federal tax credit before it expired.
The R2 took 1.3% of the US electric vehicle market in the quarter.
Where the R2 Ranks
The R2’s estimated volume placed it just behind the Toyota C-HR, at 3,467 units, and the Cadillac Lyriq, at 3,617, in Cox’s model table.
The SUV outsold the Gravity from Lucid, at 2,202, by 57.0%, and came within 867 units of Tesla‘s Cybertruck, at 4,323.
Tesla’s Model Y led the market with 99,037 units, ahead of the Model 3 at 40,346 and the Ioniq 5 from Hyundai at 10,382.
Registration data had pointed to early traction in some states, with the R2 ranking fourth among electric models in Colorado in August.
The Second-Quarter Gap
Cox’s report does not add any R2 sales to the second quarter, when Rivian began customer deliveries in June.
The company’s year-to-date estimate for Rivian of 41,009 units equals the sum of its first-quarter figure of 10,365, its second-quarter figure of 11,405 and the third-quarter 19,239.
Rivian reported 41,807 deliveries over the same nine months, a gap of 798 units.
Almost all of that gap dates from the second quarter, when Rivian’s 12,194 deliveries exceeded the Cox estimate by 789, a difference that pointed to the R2 because Cox did not yet list the model.
On that basis, Rivian would have sold approximately 4,250 R2s in the US since deliveries began, although the second-quarter portion is an inference rather than a Cox figure.
The highest R2 vehicle identification number linked to the Rivian Roamer owner tracker passed 13,000 on September 29.
Rivian assigns numbers before vehicles are built, so the figure is not a measure of production or sales.
Production Ahead of Sales
Rivian built 19,751 vehicles in the third quarter, 503 more than it delivered.
The company has said that it started a second R2 production shift at its plant in Normal, Illinois, before the end of September, meeting the target it set in July.
Chief Operating Officer Javier Varela said on July 30 that the shift would make no material contribution to volumes in the third quarter, “but we will see it in quarter four.”
Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe described the fourth quarter on the same call as “a really important element where we start to see the benefits of our second shift online.”
Rivian has said the Normal plant can build up to 215,000 vehicles a year, including up to 155,000 R2s.
The R2’s ramp has also come with quality issues and design changes.
Rivian has said 14 R2s were affected by inspections of high-voltage fasteners, and this month owners criticized the company for removing the backrest ventilation fans from the front seats of newer R2s without notice.
The Fourth-Quarter Test
Rivian reaffirmed its 2026 delivery guidance of 65,000 to 70,000 vehicles on October 2.
Reaching the low end requires 23,193 deliveries in the fourth quarter, by EV‘s calculation, above the record set in the third and implying a range of about 23,200 to 28,200.
Baird Analyst Ben Kallo, who rates the stock Outperform with a $23 price target, called the third-quarter deliveries “a strong sign for early demand” and said R2 trends will be a focal point of Rivian’s next quarterly update.
Rivian will report third-quarter results on October 29.
