Rivian receives 68,000 R2 reservations

The CEO of California EV firm Rivian RJ Scaringe says he is "overwhelmed" by the response to its new vehicles after the company received 68,000 reservations for its new E-SUV the R2.

"In less than 24 hours, we have taken more than 68,000 R2 reservations. We are thrilled to see this vehicle resonate so strongly with our community," Scaringe wrote in a post on social media site X.

This number far outstrips the 50,000 vehicles that Rivian delivered – and the 57,000 that it produced – across the whole of 2023.

Rivian is currently accepting reservations with a $100 holding deposit. The reservations are not a firm commitment to buying the vehicle, though they are an encouraging reflection of Rivian's brand recognition in a diversified EV market.

But reservations are not always converted into orders, as US EV leader Tesla found with the Cybertruck, after the company began accepting refundable low-cost deposits when the vehicle launch was delayed.

The R2 is expected to be priced around $45,000, and Rivian says deliveries will begin in the first half of 2026.

The R2 is a dedicated platform which will also be the basis of the smaller R3 and R3X compact SUVs, which were launched in a surprise unveiling this month.

If the majority of Rivian's R2 reservations do materialise into orders, it will put the company on the path to achieving its mass-market volume goals. The EV's $45,000 price tag also suggests that Rivian is opting for volume over margins for the R2.

Rivian's upcoming Georgia manufacturing facility is slated to produce 400,000 vehicles per year and will be central to the production of the two new vehicle lines. Cash burn, however, has recently been flagged by analysts as a concern for the company.

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