Rivian introduced Monday it plans to disclose a brand new automobile known as the R2 on March 7. Expected to fit under the corporate’s R1S SUV and R1T pickup, it ought to occupy a smaller footprint and are available at a extra reasonably priced value.
Rivian hasn’t launched any data concerning the R2 except for an Instagram story video revealed in May 2023 displaying a coated clay mannequin of the automotive (above). We know it will be a small SUV set to compete in opposition to vehicles just like the Tesla Model Y, Kia EV6, and Hyundai Ioniq 5.
CEO RJ Scaringe steered in a December interview the R2 will have a starting price of around $45,000 to $50,000, or round half the worth of its now-cheapest automobile, the $80,800 R1T pickup. The automobile is predicted to go on sale someday in 2026.
Scaringe says the Rivian R2 would be the model’s “Model 3 moment,” pointing to all the challenges that’ll include increasing manufacturing to fulfill the calls for related to a extra reasonably priced mannequin line.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk mentioned in a 2018 CNBC interview the corporate “faced a threat of death” throughout its ramp up of manufacturing for the Model 3 in 2017. “The company was bleeding money like crazy,” he mentioned. “If we didn’t solve these problems in a very short period of time, we’d be dead.”
Rivian is seeking to get forward of the problems with a new $5 billion manufacturing plant, set to be constructed in Georgia main as much as the R2’s begin of manufacturing. The advanced will cowl roughly 1800 acres and create 7,500 direct jobs and eight,000 oblique jobs, in accordance Clayco, the true property agency liable for the venture.