EVwire brief: Rivian raised its full-year 2026 delivery guidance on Thursday to 65,000 to 70,000 vehicles, up from the 62,000 to 67,000 it had been guiding, after a second quarter that came in well above its own outlook.
The EV maker delivered 12,194 vehicles in Q2, clearing the 9,000 to 11,000 it had projected for the quarter and the 10,518 analysts polled by Visible Alpha expected. Rivian credited quarter-over-quarter gains in its EDV commercial vans and R1 lineup, plus the first customer deliveries of the R2, which began in June. Production at its Normal, Illinois plant totaled 12,613.
R2 deliveries are expected to raise Rivian’s deliveries in the coming quarters
The delivery total works out to a rise of over 14% year-over-year, and 17.6% over the first quarter's 10,365. The new guidance also plants Rivian's floor above the Street: those same Visible Alpha analysts model 63,138 deliveries for the year, below even the bottom of the raised range.
The math still asks a lot of the second half. With 22,559 vehicles delivered through June, Rivian needs roughly 45,000 more to reach the midpoint of the new range, about double its first-half pace, and the R2 is the vehicle that has to carry that ramp.
The Rivian R2 is so far receiving positive reviews from professionals and consumers alike
Context:
The R2 is Rivian's shot at the heart of the EV market, where the Tesla Model Y rules, and demand signals so far have been encouraging even with affordability pressure lingering after the federal EV tax credit expired last September.
The R2 launched in June with a $57,990 launch-edition Performance variant, and the lineup widens from here: a $53,990 version should arrive later this year, a rear-wheel-drive model follows early next year, and the $45,000 variant that made the R2's original headlines lands by late 2027.
Only the R2 Performance variant is being delivered today
The R2 has commercial pull too. Uber is putting up to $1.25 billion into Rivian under a March agreement that will see 10,000 R2s operating as robotaxis on Uber's network beginning in 2028.
Rivian's beat landed on the same day Tesla posted a record-crushing 480,126-delivery quarter of its own, making it a very good Thursday for the US EV market's bulls. Rivian reports its full Q2 financial results on July 30 after market close, with a webcast at 5:00 p.m. ET.
Source: Rivian's Q2 2026 production and delivery release, Reuters
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