Electric Vehicles 17 May 2026 - 29 May 2026

Rivian Automotive shares climbed 7.6% to $16.36 by midday Friday, building on a two-day rally after the company picked June 9 for its first customer event for the R2 midsize SUV. The stock hovered close to session highs, with volume around 24.3 million shares. R2 is key for Rivian now, as the company needs it to get past its more expensive R1T pickup and R1S SUV and reach a wider set of buyers. Rivian aims for a bigger share of the U.S. EV market, which is largely led by Tesla's Model Y. Reuters said last month Rivian had started making the R2. Chief Financial Officer Claire McDonough told Reuters they were “encouraged by the reservations” for the new model.

Rivian Automotive shares rose about 4.4% in Wednesday afternoon trading, rebounding to $13.465 as investors turned back to the electric-vehicle maker’s R2 launch and a fresh production update from Illinois. The stock opened at $13.07, touched $13.62 and traded about 24.1 million shares. The move matters now because the R2, Rivian’s smaller and lower-priced SUV, is shifting from investor story to factory execution. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker joined Rivian leaders at the company’s Normal plant on Tuesday as Rivian ramped R2 production and hiring; the first R2 rolled off the plant in April and the site is expected to build up to 155,000 R2s a year once fully scaled. Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said the company was “beginning to launch R2” and preparing for a phase of “scale, technology, and affordability.”