bass phillips

This is a BIG win for Rivian. $RIVN Car and Driver just compared the 2027 Rivian R2 Performance against the 2026 Tesla Model Y Performance. And they picked the R2. Here’s how they stack up: • 0–60 mph: Tesla 3.3s vs. Rivian 3.5s • 75-mph highway range: Tesla 270 vs. Rivian 260 miles • Handling and FSD: Tesla wins • Interior quality and space: Rivian wins • Ride comfort and usability: Rivian wins The takeaway? Tesla is the sportier EV, but Rivian built the better everyday SUV. That’s a pretty big deal when you’re taking on America’s best-selling EV. R2 doesn’t need to beat Tesla at everything. It just needs to give buyers a compelling alternative. And according to Car and Driver, it already does. $RIVN $TSLA caranddriver.com/reviews/com…

Wall Street is starting to rethink Rivian. $RIVN And the biggest reason isn’t just analyst upgrades. It’s what customers are doing. R2 is already Rivian’s best-selling vehicle. Demand for the highest-priced launch trim has exceeded management’s expectations. Test drives are climbing, and Rivian raised its 2026 delivery guidance to 67K–70K. The next challenge is turning that demand into profitable volume. That’s where the second production shift and lower-cost R2 trims in 2027 come in. The R2 story is shifting from whether people will buy it to how efficiently Rivian can build it. $RIVN thestreet.com/investing/stoc…

Only TWO large SUVs earned the IIHS 2026 TOP SAFETY PICK+ award. Both are electric. $RIVN • Rivian R1S • Volvo EX90 And Rivian’s award covers both the 2026 and 2027 R1S. The R1S earned top marks in all three major crash tests: • Small overlap front: Good • Moderate overlap front: Good • Side impact: Good It also met the highest award’s requirements for pedestrian and vehicle crash prevention. Volvo has spent decades building its reputation around safety. Rivian is still a relatively young automaker, yet it’s already competing at that level. R1 isn’t just about performance, adventure, and technology. Safety is becoming part of Rivian’s brand identity, too. That’s a pretty strong foundation as $RIVN moves into the mass market with R2. jalopnik.com/2290708/rivian-…

RJ Scaringe says the VW-Rivian JV will “continue to expand and grow.” Today, the $5.8B partnership is focused on Rivian’s electrical architecture + software — not AI or autonomy. But RJ says there are clearly opportunities to add more over time. And VW may only be the beginning. Rivian sees an opportunity to sell its technology across “many different brands.” No other customers have been named yet. This is the part of $RIVN I think the market still underestimates. Build the technology once. Scale it through Rivian. Then license it across the industry. eletric-vehicles.com/rivian/…

Munro Live took a very different look at the R2 — not a teardown, but as a family SUV. And that’s where the R2 really shines. Two kids, a dog, school bags, soccer gear, groceries — the reviewer kept coming back to how much usable space Rivian packed into a smaller SUV. Big cargo area. Useful frunk. Dual gloveboxes. Huge door pockets. 120V outlet. Roll-down rear glass. He also liked the fast UI, separate driver display and Rivian’s haptic steering-wheel controls. Universal Hands-Free worked well in his short test too, though he correctly pointed out it’s still supervised: no automatic stops for lights/signs, and the driver has to stay engaged. His final take was pretty simple: Comfortable. Quiet. Quick. Practical. Fun to drive. R2 keeps getting praised for the same thing: it feels like Rivian took the best parts of the R1S and compressed them into a much more usable mass-market package. That’s exactly what $RIVN needed. youtu.be/oUh8W5fCRk8?si=Jxhd…

One month and ~1,200 miles later, this longtime Tesla owner says he doesn’t regret buying the Rivian R2 — but the comparison is more nuanced than “R2 beats Model Y.” Where the R2 wins for him: • More comfortable seats • More head/shoulder room + better rear-seat space • Boxier cargo area that works better for camping • Roll-down rear glass, external frunk button, dual gloveboxes, outlets + flashlight • Smooth charging experience across Tesla + Rivian networks • Highway hands-free has improved a lot vs. early R1 He estimates he used driver assist for roughly 70% of the road trip, and after 1,000+ miles, range wasn’t a major problem. At ~75 mph, arrival SOC estimates were pretty accurate. At 80–85 mph, efficiency dropped noticeably. But the biggest weakness was software polish. He ran into key detection issues, camera glitches, charging-route weirdness, garage-door control problems, mirror reset issues, and slower remote commands vs. Tesla. That stuff matters because it hits you every day. The ride is another tradeoff: Soft mode is comfortable, but body roll caused motion sickness on twisty roads. Medium/Firm helped a lot, though the R2 still doesn’t feel as planted as a Model Y. And in city driving, he still misses Tesla FSD. So his verdict is basically: For camping, space, comfort and road trips → R2. For software maturity and unfamiliar city driving → Tesla still has the edge. If he bought again, he’d probably skip Performance and go with a cheaper Premium trim + smaller wheels. That’s actually a pretty strong endorsement. He’s not saying the R2 is perfect. He’s saying that after a month of real ownership, bugs and all, he’d still choose it again for the things that matter most to him. $RIVN $TSLA youtu.be/i8UDG39nkZU?si=t8wd…