Overview
- Rivian, which began building customer-ready R2 SUVs on Wednesday at its Normal, Illinois plant, kept its near-term ramp plan intact after an EF-1 tornado damaged the facility’s logistics area five days earlier.
- Customer deliveries of the R2 Performance Launch Edition are slated for late spring, with reservation holders set to receive configuration invites in June and early units already handed to employees for real-world use.
- The rollout starts with a $57,990 Performance model, followed by a $53,990 Premium trim late this year, a $48,490 Standard Long Range in early 2027, and a base version around $45,000 targeted for late 2027.
- Rivian’s 2026 delivery guidance of 62,000–67,000 vehicles assumes roughly 22,000–23,000 R2s this year, and analysts expect a slow start with fewer than 400 deliveries in Q2 before rising to about 7,000 in Q3 and 15,000 in Q4.
- Management cites big manufacturing savings on the R2 platform—including die casting, drive unit, and suspension changes—as the path to positive automotive gross margins by year-end, though those gains depend on scaling production.