RIVN Stock Pulls Back But Eyes Third Straight Green Week On R2 Hype

• Deliveries will commence with the Performance variant, followed by the Premium variant slated for later this year, and the Standard variant. 
• For the whole of 2026, Rivian now expects to deliver 62,000-67,000 vehicles, up from the 42,247 vehicles delivered in 2025.
• A bulk of this guidance will be weighted towards the fourth quarter.

Shares of Rivian Automotive (RIVN) fell 1% on Thursday after closing higher for ten consecutive sessions, as the company gears up for customer deliveries of its R2 mid-size SUV.

Despite the slump on Thursday, the stock is on track to close its third consecutive week in the green, if gains hold.

External customer deliveries and test drives of the more affordable midsize R2 SUV are slated to begin June 9 at Rivian showrooms and service centers across the U.S.

The R2, priced from approximately $45,000 for the cheapest variant, is Rivian’s first mass-market model and is designed to compete directly with vehicles like Tesla’s best-selling Model Y. Rivian’s other offerings, including the R1T electric truck and the R1S electric SUV, are priced above $70,000 and cater to a more premium customer base.

R2’s online configurator now shows three variants, namely standard, premium, and performance, priced between $48,490 and $57,990. Deliveries will commence with the Performance variant, followed by the Premium variant slated for later this year, and the Standard variant, which is slated to be launched next year.

R2 Launch Plan

Talking about the company's launch plan, Rivian CFO Claire McDonough said at the UBS Auto and Auto Tech Conference on Wednesday that a select group of existing reservation holders will receive the option to configure their launch edition vehicles on June 9.

McDonough said the streamlined launch is designed to shrink the time between order and delivery while managing customer expectations. “We’re just inviting customers that are interested in configuring their Launch Edition version of the vehicle to configure that, order that, so we can also shrink down the timeline between order and delivery and better manage expectations within the order bank of customers as well.”

The company is intentionally limiting the initial offering to simplify execution. “It’s part of an overall strategy of how do you go slow to go fast,” McDonough explained. “In doing so, we’ve cultivated a smaller assortment of our launch variant product, which is our performance variant, which has a number of additional bundled features included as part of it that we’ll launch with.”

That Launch Edition bundles lifetime autonomy, a tow package, and other features that will later become optional add-ons.

R2 Demand And Expectations

For the whole of 2026, Rivian now expects to deliver 62,000-67,000 vehicles, up from the 42,247 vehicles delivered in 2025. However, the bulk of this guidance will be weighted towards the fourth quarter, McDonough clarified at the conference.

“As we think about the overall execution of the ramp, it’s heavily going to be supply chain driven,” McDonough said. “Our teams have spent a lot of time with each and every one of our suppliers… you can only ramp as quickly as your weakest supplier.”

Despite the measured rollout, McDonough expressed strong confidence in the underlying demand for the R2, noting earlier this week that the R2 targets the largest and fastest-growing segment in the industry—the five-passenger SUV and crossover space—and is positioned to attract both loyal Rivian customers and first-time EV buyers.

How Did RIVN Retail Traders React?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around RIVN stock jumped from ‘neutral’ to ‘extremely bullish’ territory over the past week, while message volume jumped from ‘normal’ to ‘high’ levels.

A Stocktwits user voiced optimism for June 9.

Another highlighted the pullback on Thursday as a buying opportunity while adding that R2 is “gonna be a hit.”

RIVN stock has fallen 7% year-to-date due to concerns about heavy capital spending on the R2 ramp and the company’s upcoming Georgia plant, in addition to concerns about the cheapest R2 variant being pushed back to next year, among other factors. 

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