In the last few days, some R2 reservation holders have noticed their invite windows getting shorter.
People are talking about this on Reddit and in the usual owner groups. Someone said their estimate went from four to eight weeks down to just one to two weeks. And it’s not just them; a bunch of folks are seeing the same thing happen in just the last few days.
Quick reminder: an invitation doesn’t mean your R2 is showing up in a week or two. It just means you get to go in, pick your options, and actually place your order. So a shorter invite window isn’t your delivery date, but it does mean everything else moves up, including when you’ll finally see your R2 in the driveway.
One thing to keep in mind: right now, you can only configure the Performance model with the Launch Package. If you get invited early, that’s what you’ll be ordering. The Standard and Premium options are not available until late 2026 and spring 2027, respectively.
Rivian’s still prioritizing folks whose leases are ending soon, which makes sense. Those people are ready to order right away, so keeping them at the front helps keep things moving.
If invite windows are shrinking for a bunch of people at once, it usually means Rivian’s feeling more confident about production. They wouldn’t move things up if they didn’t have cars to support it, so it’s a good sign that things are picking up at Normal.
None of this is official, just to be clear. Rivian hasn’t said anything about speeding up invitations; this is just owners comparing notes, which is usually how these things come out first anyway. But if enough people are seeing the same change at the same time, it’s probably not just noise.
So if you’ve got a reservation, it’s worth keeping an eye on your email to see if Rivian bumps you up too. It might have moved.
Jose, gotta ask it again since you are giving a date different than Rivian is/has: You state here that premium won’t be available until 2027, but the Rivian website indicates late 2026. Is this breaking news you have, or are you making assumptions that they will push it out? (note, that I’m not trying to be a pain. You are a fantastic source of information, but when you put dates out there that aren’t validated against anything or that contradict official statements, it really contributes to the confusion.)
Adjusted to say late 2026 for Premium and early 2027 for Standard.
Jose, that makes sense. But you might want to check your statement in the article again, since it looks like you have those two flipped.
Either more confident in production or getting fewer takers than they had initially modeled! Since it looks like I won’t get my R2 until at least August, maybe September, I’m leaning toward waiting for Gen 3 Autonomy now. Definitely tough for Rivian to gauge with a lot of variables as they work through the order book, additional options rollout and timing of Gen 3 autonomy.
I wonder if people are waiting for LiDAR. I am really unclear on what to do as my window is September to October currently. There has been great confusion as to whether the launch edition R2 will be produced with LiDAR in late 2026. Can you clarify what you know about that for me? The Rivian assistant says Lidar will be included in “future configurations“. If it was just waiting another month or so I would do it. A major interest for me is point to point self drive with automated stops at lights and stop signs in an urban environment.
I doubt lidar will be on the LE. That means there would have been 2 LEs with 2 hardware stacks – I’m pretty confident that will not happen.
Stopped by the factory on our way through the area and they said they had hit a peak of 20 R2s in one day. Aiming for 40 per day by this Fall. They were shut down doing some updates on the day we were there. Also saw the new construction on their entrance loop. Seemed to be widening a bit?
20 a day is only 5k units a year. Even 40 a day would be 10k units. Hopefully that’s not full production (even if they’re working weekings they’d be no where near hitting their 25k unit estimate at 40/day)
My delivery window is September/October but I’m waiting for Coastal Cloud interior. Paying cash so hopefully that keeps me up front. Reservation date was Feb, 2024
I thought about waiting for LiDAR, but worry that will be a longer timeframe like all new technology tends to be.
Given that the plant in Normal has a capacity of ~600 cars per day, this represents an early increase in production for a single shift as they ramp to full(er) production on two shifts at end of year.
Until Georgia comes online (800-1100 per day), the true production ramp will take a while.