Rivian’s new R2 SUV was its best-selling vehicle in the third quarter, the company said Thursday, marking an auspicious start for the all-important EV.
While Rivian didn’t say exactly how many R2s it sold over the three-month period, the company is confident enough in the pace of sales that it raised its delivery guidance for Wall Street. Rivian had previously expected to deliver between 65,000 and 70,000 EVs this year. On Thursday, it bumped up that floor to 67,000.
It’s the second time Rivian has raised its delivery guidance this year, and the company is now on track to break a three-year stalemate during which it struggled to ship more than 50,000 vehicles annually. The company launched the R2 just in June, but it has made a major bet on scaling production of the lower-cost SUV at a historically-quick rate.
The early success of the R2 is also a sign that Rivian is finding new customers despite last year’s loss of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. The death of that tax credit, along with changes made by the Trump administration to U.S. regulations that supported the growth of EVs, has caused many major automakers to shift their attention back to internal combustion and hybrid vehicles — leaving room in the market for pure-EV companies like Tesla and Rivian.
“In a U.S. automotive marketplace starved for high-quality EV choice, R2 is an attractively priced option for everyday adventures that is resonating with a broad set of consumers and we expect will be a game changer for Rivian’s long-term growth and profitability,” the company said in a letter to shareholders released Thursday.
Rivian revealed earlier this month that it built 19,751 vehicles in the third quarter and delivered 19,248. That was roughly 45% more than it delivered in the same period last year and a big jump from the 12,613 vehicles built and 12,194 delivered in the second quarter of 2026. The increase was driven in large part by the company launching a second production shift at its factory in Normal, Illinois.
Rivian said Thursday that the R2 was responsible for “much of the gain quarter-over-quarter,” but didn’t go into specifics. The company generated $2.2 billion in revenue in the third quarter and suffered a net loss of $913 million — down from $1.2 billion in the same period last year.
Rivian launched the R2 at a starting price of just under $60,000. A more affordable “premium” trim is supposed to be available later this year that starts at $53,990. Even cheaper versions are slated for 2027, which will be available for as low as $44,990.
