Rivian has been touring the United States with its R2 mid-size SUV since early April, hosting events across seven cities as the EV maker builds momentum ahead of customer deliveries.
The company began volume, saleable production of the SUV at its Normal, Illinois, plant in late April — despite an EF-1 tornado that struck the facility’s R2 assembly area a few days earlier.
With a target of 20,000 to 25,000 R2 deliveries in 2026 — a third of all vehicle sales expected this year, despite its launch only affecting volumes in the second half — customer deliveries are expected to begin in June.
Rivian is counting on the success of its midsize SUV to drive higher vehicle demand and help the company — which has burned through over $24 billion in cash — move toward profitability.
The public online configurator went live last week.
The ‘R2 Block Party’ tour, announced in late March, gives reservation holders and prospective buyers the chance to see the vehicle in person, sit inside it, and view all available exterior colors.
Demo drives are not offered during the events; instead, they are expected to begin at select Rivian Spaces around July.
According to user reports on social media, most of the stops have drawn large crowds with long queues of people waiting to get inside the SUV.
“Line to sit in the R2 for 2 minutes… over an hour wait,” X user ‘TailosiveEV’ wrote on X on Sunday.
Venice Beach, Denver, Chicago
The tour kicked off in Venice Beach, California, between April 3 and 5.
The R2 moved to Denver, Colorado, from April 17 to 19, before heading to Chicago, Illinois, between April 24 and 26.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis wrote about the model on X, providing a “sneak peek at Rivian’s new R2.”
We are proud that Coloradans have a variety of options for going electric – a fun, quiet, clean way to get around while cutting pollution,” Polis stated. “This addition is great news for Colorado families looking to save on gas and go electric.”
On the same weekend, X user ‘alexneil’ said that there was a “massive line to sit inside a R2 yesterday at Denver.”
Images shared by several people present at the Denver event, both on X and on the RivianForums, confirmed the queues.
Known Rivian owner and brand enthusiast Chris Hilbert travelled to Chicago on the final weekend of April, sharing details of the event on X.
“Here are some bonus shots taken by a Rivian employee (Ross) working the Chicago R2 Block Party. You can see the line wrapped around inside like a Disney World ride,” he wrote as a description of one of the posts.
After an attendee of the Chicago event flagged the bass quality as a weak point of the vehicle, software head Wassym Bensaid clarified that the vehicles being shown at Block Party events are early builds that do not include the production audio tuning.
The Chief Software Officer took delivery of its R2 vehicle late last month, marking the beginning of employee deliveries.
Long Island, Atlanta
In the first three days of May, Rivian showcased the SUV in New York at its Long Island showroom.
X user ‘zerosum85’ wrote in early May that the “R2 Block Party in Long Island was packed — big crowd, long lines, and everyone waiting for their chance to see the R2 up close.”
The tour then shifted to the Southeast, starting with Atlanta between May 8 and 10.
X user ‘stealer82’ shared a video on May 9, thanking the company “for doing such an incredible job with the setup for the R2 block party in Atlanta today.”
“They had 3 R2’s setup and small lines at each that kept everyone rotating through to see the vehicles as quickly as possible,” the user noted.
Rivian established its East Coast headquarters in the city last year, and a second factory in Georgia is under construction and projected to begin operations in 2028, supporting expanded R2 production alongside the future R3 and R3X.
Palo Alto, Miami, Nashville
Last weekend, the R2 was in both Miami and Palo Alto simultaneously, with the Miami event running from May 15 to 17 and the Palo Alto stop starting a day earlier, on May 14.
“The Rivian R2 Launch event at Palo Alto was fun but dang the 1hr 40min line was rough. Still an exciting and beautiful product,” X user ‘caidentity’ wrote over the weekend.
Responding to another person on X, user ‘fang46958’ also wrote that he “went to Palo Alto R2 Block Party this morning [Sunday]. The line was insanely long… I start to think that I should dump all my cash to RIVN stock.”
The tour is scheduled to wrap up in Nashville, Tennessee, between May 22 and 24.
