Rivian briefly activates R2 configurator on its site, then pulls it

Rivian briefly exposed a “Design yours” button for the R2 on its website on May 13, then removed it, according to screenshots circulated by EV-focused outlets and Rivian watchers. The button’s appearance did not lead to a live public builder, and Rivian’s R2 reservation page remained active on Thursday. The episode landed as customers wait for the next step in ordering Rivian’s lower-priced midsize SUV. It also came within weeks of the company saying it had started production of saleable R2 vehicles and made first deliveries to employees. ### Did Rivian actually open the R2 configurator? Rivian’s public website showed a “Design yours” button tied to the R2 on May 13 before the element disappeared later the same day, according to a report from eletric-vehicles.com and pages crawled from Rivian’s own site. Rivian’s configurations pages are live for current vehicles, but the R2 path on Thursday still directed shoppers to reservation-related pages rather than a public builder. (eletric-vehicles.com) Rivian said on March 12 that the “R2 online configurator will open in the coming months” when it published full trims and pricing for the vehicle. That statement remains the company’s clearest official timetable for a public builder, and Rivian has not posted a newer newsroom update saying the configurator is live. ### What has Rivian officially said about the R2 rollout? (eletric-vehicles.com) Rivian said on April 30 that it had “started production of saleable R2 vehicles” and made first deliveries to employees, with external customer deliveries expected “in the coming weeks.” The company disclosed that update in its first-quarter 2026 financial results. (rivian.com) The March 12 product announcement put the first R2 delivery wave in spring 2026, beginning with the R2 Performance with Launch Package starting at $57,990. Rivian said additional Premium configurations would follow in late 2026 and Standard configurations in 2027. The company also said the lineup offers up to 656 horsepower and up to 345 miles of Rivian-estimated range, depending on trim. (rivian.com) ### Why are buyers treating a stray website button as a signal? Rivian reservation holders have been waiting for configuration access since the company moved from the March reveal to detailed trims and pricing in March 2026. Third-party reports citing customer communications said Rivian had told reservation holders it would return in June with a date for when they could configure and order the R2. Rivian’s support pages also continue to group R2 under preordering and configuring resources, reinforcing that the order process is still staged rather than fully open. (rivian.com) The company’s own product page already lists major specifications, features and trim structure, including the temporary Launch Package offer. That means the missing piece for many reservation holders is not product detail but the ability to lock a build and place an order. ### What else is Rivian saying about the R2 program? RJ Scaringe told Reuters this month that more R2 variants are in development beyond the version already shown publicly. (rivianwave.com) Ars Technica, citing the Reuters interview, reported that Scaringe said “clearly there could be an R2X” and added that there would be other combinations, while stopping short of a formal product announcement. (rivian.com) Rivian has tied the broader midsize program to its Georgia manufacturing plans. The company said on April 30 that it increased the future Georgia plant’s initial production capacity to 300,000 vehicles annually, and said in September 2025 that customer vehicle production there is expected to begin in 2028 for the R2 SUV and R3 crossover. (arstechnica.com) ### Where does the AI Assistant fit into this week’s Rivian updates? Rivian said in December that its Rivian Assistant voice interface would launch in early 2026 on Gen 1 and Gen 2 R1 vehicles, and the company repeated in February that the assistant was expected to launch on all Rivian consumer vehicles in early 2026. Reports published this week said the rollout has begun through Rivian’s latest software update for owners with Connect+. (rivian.com) The R2 product announcement also described the vehicle as carrying onboard compute for the forthcoming Rivian Assistant. That links the software push on current vehicles with the feature set Rivian is advertising for its next-volume model. June is now the next concrete checkpoint for buyers watching the R2 order process. Rivian has said the configurator will open in the coming months, and third-party reports citing customer outreach point to June for the next communication on configuration timing, while external customer deliveries were expected in the weeks after April 30. (rivian.com 1) (rivian.com 2)