Rivian Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid clarified on Sunday that the R2 vehicles being shown at the company’s ‘R2 Block Party’ tour are early builds that do not include the production audio tuning.
The executive clarified on X after Rivian owner and content creator Chris Hilbert (@Hilbe), who attended the Chicago weekend event, identified bass quality as the only feature he rated negatively in a three-tier impressions list.
Hilbert grouped seven features as ‘Good,’ including interior space, build quality, seat comfort, the Halo wheel design, and trunk space.
Six items received a ‘So-So’ rating, including frunk space, audio quality, software responsiveness, fixed rear seats, and the absence of a locking armrest.
The Exchange
Hilbert posted a photo of the R2’s steering wheel and dashboard from one of the Block Party events with a single critical line: “Audio: Mid 😞.”
Bensaid responded directly on Sunday.
“This is an early build and doesn’t include the production Audio tuning,” Bensaid wrote.
“R2’s speaker topology includes a lot of learnings from R1, and integrates new force-balanced midwoofer and subwoofer (similar to premium home systems). I have it on my car and it sounds amazing,” the Software Chief added.
R2 Block Party Tour
The R2 Block Party is Rivian‘s pre-launch promotional tour, designed to give reservation-holders and prospective buyers the first in-person look at the R2 before customer deliveries begin.
The tour kicked off in Venice, California, on April 6, before stops in Denver and Chicago this month. Five additional cities are scheduled for May: Long Island, Atlanta, Miami, Palo Alto, and Nashville.
Until Bensaid’s post on X, it was unknown that the Rivian vehicles being shown at events through May are not specification-final.
Customers can sit inside the vehicle and view all available exterior colors, including the recently introduced Half Moon Grey, but Rivian is not offering demo drives during the events.
The Performance Launch Edition is positioned above the $45,000 Standard variant that is not scheduled to enter production until late 2027.
Internal Deliveries Underway
Rivian began internal deliveries of the R2 last week.
Bensaid confirmed on Thursday that he had received his own vehicle, posting two photos on X — one showing the R2 in the Rivian app, the other showing the vehicle’s infotainment screen prompting “What will you call your R2?”
Bensaid is also co-CEO of the software and electrical architecture joint venture Rivian formed with Volkswagen Group in late 2024.
Production Start
Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe confirmed last week that the company’s Normal, Illinois, plant had begun volume and saleable production of the R2, despite an EF-1 tornado that struck the south end of the facility earlier this month.
Speaking live from the factory to Bloomberg Tech host Ed Ludlow, Scaringe said the production ramp plan remains intact.
“Our ramp up this week and into next week, we’re not making changes to the plan,” Scaringe said, without detailing the impact beyond that window.
Rivian is scheduled to report first-quarter results and update both Wall Street analysts and retail shareholders on R2 demand and the production ramp on April 30.
