Rivian Begins R2 Deliveries, Tied to Georgia Plant Plans

Rivian began delivering its first batch of the R2 mid-size electric SUV to customers on Tuesday, as the company’s leaders said the model is crucial to its growth plans.

“Electric vehicle startup Rivian announced Tuesday it has begun delivering its first batch of new midsize SUVs to customers, an effort pivotal to the company’s planned factory in Georgia”

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The R2 is tied to Rivian’s planned factory in Georgia, where the company’s anticipated demand for the new vehicle model is bolstering ambitions to build a production plant an hour east of Atlanta in southern Morgan and Walton counties.

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TechCrunch said Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe called the R2 “maybe the most important thing we’ve launched to date,” as the company tries to reach mass-market scale.

Rivian’s launch starts with the R2 Performance with Launch Package, which TechCrunch said starts at around $58,000, while Electric Vehicles said the first version available is priced from $57,990.

Electric Cars Report said production of the midsize electric SUV is already underway at Rivian’s manufacturing facility in Normal, Illinois, where employees began taking delivery of early vehicles in April.

Rivian said the R2 is built as a software-defined vehicle designed for regular over-the-air updates, and Electric Vehicles said the SUV carries 11 high-dynamic-range cameras and a five-radar sensor suite.

Electric Vehicles reported that Rivian’s Autonomy+ system delivers hands-free assisted driving across 3.5 million miles of roads in the US and Canada, and it described a limited rollout of point-to-point driving coming to the R2 later this year before broader availability in 2027.

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Electric Cars Report said the R2 includes Rivian’s Autonomy+ package at no additional charge, a feature normally valued at $2,500, and it described the SUV as having an EPA-estimated range of up to 330 miles.

Electric Cars Report also said the R2 will debut Rivian Assistant, powered by 200 sparse TOPS of edge AI computing capability, designed to process complex requests locally within the vehicle even when internet connectivity is unavailable.

Rivian said reservation holders will receive ordering invitations in rolling batches, and Electric Vehicles said by the end of June all reservation holders will receive an estimate of when to expect their invitation.

Rivian plans to ramp up both production and deliveries of the R2 through the second half of 2026, TechCrunch said, and it added that the company has said it will deliver between 20,000 and 25,000 R2 SUVs by the end of the year.

CNBC reported that Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said the company needs more scale than the 160,000 units already planned for the vehicle at its current plant in Normal, Illinois, and it said Georgia is slated to begin production in late 2028.

CNBC said Scaringe told the outlet, “Georgia brings the volume to generate the gross margin for the vehicle sales that covers everything,” linking the Georgia ramp to profitability.

Electric Vehicles said the R2 Premium trim is scheduled to arrive in late 2026 at $53,990, with Standard Long Range starting at $48,490 in early 2027 and a further Standard at $44,990 in the summer.

Ars Technica described the R2’s dimensions as 185.9 inches (4,722 mm) long, and it said the R2’s ground clearance matches a base Jeep Wrangler Sport or Sahara at 9.6 inches (244 mm).