EVwire brief: Rivian crossed 150,000 demo drives for its consumer lineup in North America by late August, blowing past the 118,000 it managed in all of 2025. The R2 crossover, which went on sale in June, is behind much of that spike.
Rather than pouring money into ads, Rivian is treating test drives as its entire go-to-market playbook for the R2. Chief customer officer Greg Revelle said the strategy is working better than the company expected.
The demo drive is our marketing. It's the most important metric that we track in our marketing organization.
Rivian is not disclosing what percentage of test drivers end up buying, but Revelle said the numbers are clearing internal targets.
Test drives have become the R2’s primary marketing strategy.
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Rivian currently has 140 stores and service centers open, with plans for roughly 40 more by the end of 2027. It encourages shoppers to bring kids, dogs, and car seats along for the ride so they can see how the vehicle fits their life. As per Revelle, this strategy has been working so far.
We don't have a substantial paid media effort similar to what other OEMs have or even what dealers have. It's pretty much all word of mouth.
There is evidence the approach has legs beyond anecdote. Consumer Reports gave Rivian the highest customer satisfaction score of any U.S. brand in December, with 85% of owners saying they would buy another one. That was based on the R1T pickup and R1S SUV, which both start north of $80,000.
The R2, at $59,485 for the current launch trim, opens the door to a much wider pool of buyers. More trims and colors are on the way over the coming months, including a cheaper R2 Premium variant. A recently added white interior option already drove a bump in showroom visits, according to Revelle.
Rivian’s showrooms are designed to be spaces that could show potential customers how vehicles like the R2 could fit in their lives.
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Context:
The showroom buzz lines up with what is happening on the factory floor. RivianTrackr reports the highest R2 VIN spotted has reached 11,491, jumping about 2,000 in under two weeks. Rivian is adding a second shift at its Normal, Illinois plant by the end of Q3 to keep up.
The company is targeting 65,000 to 70,000 deliveries for 2026, a substantial increase from last year's 42,247. Through June, it had shipped 22,559 vehicles, so the R2 has to carry most of the second-half load.
The macro picture is tougher. U.S. Rivian registrations slid 13% in H1 2026 to 19,123 units, per Mobility Global. The overall EV market fell harder, down 21% to 492,651 registrations, thanks in part to last year's $7,500 federal tax credit repeal.
Source: Automotive News
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