Deliveries of the Rivian R2 were supposed to start this year, 2026, but will now begin in 2027 for the Canadian market. Rivian quietly updated the R2’s page on its Canadian website this week, notably removing the initial estimated delivery year and starting price of $66,500 CAD.
The website indicates that more details will be revealed on March 12th of this year, but this delay does not seem like good news for the Canadian market.
When Rivian initially revealed the vehicle in March 2024, they set that $66,500 CAD price target alongside the 2026 launch date. Since then, the economic landscape has drastically changed. The ongoing U.S.-Canada trade dispute has resulted in Canada imposing a 25% retaliatory tariff on U.S.-made vehicles. In the current environment, it is highly unlikely Rivian could have hit their original target price if they launched the R2 in Canada this year.
The R2 is positioned to directly compete with the Tesla Model Y, which currently starts at $49,990 in Canada. Tesla has a massive advantage when navigating these trade wars: global manufacturing scale. To avoid both the 100% tariff on Chinese-made EVs (though these tariffs will be reduced to 6.1% for a set quota of imports) and the 25% tariff on U.S.-made EVs, Tesla is currently shipping Canadian Model Y inventory directly from Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg in Germany, leveraging Canada’s free trade agreements with Europe.
Hopefully, Rivian can find a solution and remain competitive.
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