Rivian's R2 launch drives it to a quarterly delivery record

Rivian sold more electric vehicles than ever in the third quarter, driven largely by the launch of its new, more affordable R2 SUV. The company said Friday it built 19,751 vehicles and delivered 19,248 — roughly 45% more deliveries than in the same period last year. Rivian didn’t break out how many of those were R2s, but this was the first full quarter of sales for the new vehicle since it launched in June. The company said it will release full third-quarter financial results on October 29.

Rivian has big plans for the R2, which currently starts at just under $60,000. The company is betting it will sell between 20,000 and 25,000 R2 vehicles by the end of the year, which would make it one of the fastest-selling EVs in U.S. history — second only to Tesla’s Model Y. Rivian also plans to make cheaper models available that will cost as low as around $45,000.

If Rivian hits those R2 numbers, the company believes it can sell between 65,000 and 70,000 vehicles this year in total, including its R1 lineup and its commercial electric van. That would be its best sales year ever, after the company spent the last few years stuck at around the 50,000-vehicles-sold mark.

Rivian is currently building the R2 at its factory in Normal, Illinois, where it recently expanded production space to accommodate the new SUV. The company is also building a new factory outside Atlanta, Georgia, where it expects to eventually be able to build as many as 300,000 vehicles per year, with the option to expand that capacity further down the road.

Rivian needs the R2 to sell well to staunch years of heavy losses, driven in part by the expensive infrastructure the company built to support a mass-market vehicle. Rivian has also signed a deal with Uber to make robotaxi versions of the R2 SUV. The company believes robotaxis represent such a large potential market that, in March, it pushed back its goal of reaching profitability in 2027 to invest more in autonomy.

Why it matters

A quarterly delivery record on the strength of a single new model shows Rivian’s mass-market bet is working so far — but the company is still leaning on future robotaxi ambitions, not current profitability, to justify the spending behind it.