Rivian began public customer deliveries of its R2 mid-size SUV on Tuesday, opening the most consequential vehicle launch in the company’s history and extending order invitations to reservation holders on a rolling basis.
The EV maker said the first version available is the R2 Performance with Launch Package, priced from $57,990, with cheaper trims set to follow through 2027.
Rivian also lifted the embargo on the first media drives of production-specification R2 vehicles on Tuesday, marking the earliest published reviews of customer-build cars after months of impressions drawn from pre-production prototypes.
Employees at the company’s Normal, Illinois, plant began taking delivery of R2s in April, ahead of the public rollout.
Rivian shares were trading 1% higher as of publication time.
A Launch Years in the Making
Rivian first unveiled the R2 on March 7, 2024, in Laguna Beach, California, casting it as the model that would carry the brand’s design, performance and technology to a far broader audience.
The two years since were spent on an intensive validation program.
Every R2 in the development fleet accumulated tens of thousands of miles from coast to coast, with engineering teams testing the vehicle in conditions ranging from minus 45 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit, the company said.
Rivian said the R2 reached its first public customers after multiple lifetimes of accumulated mileage across that development fleet.
“I am really proud of the work our team poured into creating R2,” founder and Chief Executive RJ Scaringe said in a statement.
How Ordering Works
Reservation holders will begin receiving invitations to configure and order in rolling batches, Rivian said.
The primary factors determining timing are when a reservation was placed and the customer’s delivery location.
Current Rivian owners will receive accelerated timing, balanced against deliveries to non-owners to keep the production line moving, and customers whose leases are ending soon can flag that in their accounts.
By the end of June, all reservation holders will receive an estimate of when to expect their invitation, the company said.
Once an order is confirmed, customers can take delivery within two to six weeks, meaning most public handovers will land in the weeks after Tuesday’s start rather than on the day itself.
Reservations remain open with a refundable $100 deposit.
A Staggered Price Ladder
Deliveries open with the R2 Performance with Launch Package at $57,990, the highest trim in the range.
That version pairs dual-motor all-wheel drive producing 656 horsepower and 609 pound-feet of torque with a zero-to-60-mph time as quick as 3.6 seconds and an EPA-estimated range of up to 330 miles, Rivian said.
Performance with Launch Package also bundles the company’s Autonomy+ driver-assistance suite, which Rivian values at $2,500, along with semi-active suspension and a tow package rated at 4,400 pounds.
A dual-motor R2 Premium will arrive in late 2026 at $53,990.
Rear-wheel-drive R2 Standard versions follow in 2027, with a Standard Long Range starting at $48,490 in early 2027 and a further Standard at $44,990 in the summer.
Buyers who prefer to wait for a later version will be notified as it becomes available to order, the company said.
The Vehicle
Rivian built the R2 on an all-new mid-size platform engineered for a lower price without sacrificing capability.
The SUV is nearly 2,000 pounds lighter than the larger R1 and rides on a 115.6-inch wheelbase, while keeping 9.6 inches of ground clearance that Rivian calls class-leading for the segment.
Inside, the five-seat cabin offers 40.9 inches of front headroom and a 40/20/40 folding rear seat, with as much as 90.1 cubic feet of total storage when the rear seats are down.
On technology, the R2 carries 11 high-dynamic-range cameras and a five-radar sensor suite, paired with 200 sparse TOPS of edge computing dedicated to the cabin.
The cabin pairs two digital displays with a redesigned steering wheel built around context-aware haptic dials, both of which Rivian said were developed in-house.
Rivian said its Autonomy+ system delivers hands-free assisted driving across 3.5 million miles of roads in the US and Canada, with a limited rollout of point-to-point driving coming to the R2 and second-generation R1 fleet later this year and a wider release in 2027.
An in-vehicle voice assistant, Rivian Assistant, will launch on the R2 later this summer and is designed to run tasks locally even when the vehicle is offline.
First Drives of the Production Car
Tuesday’s delivery announcement coincided with the lifting of an embargo on the first media drives of production R2 vehicles.
Those reviews were the first to assess customer-specification cars, after earlier media impressions were drawn from lightly camouflaged pre-production prototypes.
Rivian had restricted earlier press drives to disguised development cars, making the production reviews the first independent look at the finished vehicle.
The timing gave prospective buyers independent assessments of the production vehicle as ordering opened to reservation holders.
Made in Illinois, With Georgia to Come
Rivian assembles the R2 on a dedicated new line at its Normal, Illinois, facility, which also builds the R1S and R1T and supports thousands of jobs in central Illinois.
Rivian is building a second plant in Stanton Springs, Georgia, expected to begin assembling vehicles in late 2028.
That site is projected to add as many as 300,000 units of annual capacity in its first phase, earmarked for the R2, Rivian‘s planned robotaxi platform and future models and variants.
Why It Matters
For Rivian, the R2 is the volume product that is meant to broaden the brand well below its premium R1 line and move the loss-making automaker toward sustainable production scale.
Pricing the launch trim at $57,990 places the first deliveries above the roughly $45,000 entry point that anchored the original mass-market pitch, with that cheapest version not due until the summer of 2027.
Rivian has not changed its delivery guidance, and Tuesday’s announcement keeps the launch on its stated date even as the bulk of customer handovers extend into the following weeks.
How quickly Rivian can convert Tuesday’s start into volume handovers, and then into the lower-priced trims that define the R2’s reach, will shape whether the model delivers on its promise.
