Rivian unveiled full pricing and specs for its R2 SUV on Thursday at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas — but the stock didn’t celebrate.
Rivian (RIVN) dropped about 2.4% to $16.22 in early trading, even as the long-awaited reveal answered key questions about the company’s next vehicle.
The R2 lineup spans three trims. The Performance variant, available first, starts at $57,990 with the launch package, not including a $1,495 delivery fee. A Premium trim at $53,990 follows in late 2026, and the base Standard version arrives in late 2027 at $45,000.
UPDATED SPECULATION on $RIVN R2 Pricing…
Ok, we can't leave this alone, but apparently @arstechnica accidentally published and pulled an article revealing R2 pricing early.
I updated my previous speculations on R2 pricing based on the information I was able to find. Special… pic.twitter.com/x5db4i1eS4
— Hamid (@hamids) March 11, 2026
The Performance trim packs 656 horsepower, 609 lb-ft of torque, and a 330-mile range from an 87.9 kWh battery. Fast charging from 10% to 80% takes 29 minutes. It comes standard with semi-active suspension, 21-inch wheels, matrix LED headlights, and heated and ventilated seats.
The $53,990 Premium version delivers 450 horsepower and the same 330-mile range, though it drops several drive modes and the semi-active suspension.
The $45,000 Standard model uses a smaller battery with around 265 miles of range. Details beyond that were limited.
The pricing actually leaked a day early. A media outlet published — and then quickly pulled — a detailed review of the R2 on March 11, roughly 24 hours before the official reveal.
The R2 is launching into a tough market. The Trump administration eliminated the $7,500 EV purchase tax credit in September, and U.S. EV sales fell 36% year over year in Q4 as a result.
Rivian’s current R1 models start above $70,000, so the R2 is meant to open up a much wider buyer pool. But the timing is tricky, with affordability taking a hit across the EV segment.
Rivian expects to deliver 62,000 to 67,000 vehicles in 2026, with 20,000 to 25,000 of those being R2 units as the Normal, Illinois plant ramps up. Validation vehicles have been running there since January, and production is expected to begin in the coming weeks.
Rivian has accumulated more than $24 billion in losses to date. Management has said the R2 is central to reaching positive cash flow.
TD Cowen analyst Itay Michaeli upgraded Rivian to Buy from Hold on March 10, raising his price target to $20 from $17. He sees annual R2 demand eventually topping 200,000 units, with potential upside toward 330,000 — well above Wall Street’s 2027 estimate of around 136,000 vehicles.
Barclays analyst Dan Levy flagged that tariff costs and the loss of regulatory credits have added pressure since the R2 was first teased at $45,000 back in March 2024.
About 40% of analysts covering RIVN rate it a Buy, below the S&P 500 average of 59%, though Rivian has picked up three Buy ratings over the past three months. The average price target sits around $18.
The R2 received more than 68,000 reservations within 24 hours of its March 2024 concept reveal, with that figure surpassing 100,000 by July 2024. Rivian hasn’t updated the reservation count since.
Coming into Thursday, RIVN was down about 16% in 2026.
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