It’s now been two and a half years since Rivian delivered its first production R1T truck, with the R1S SUV and EDV van following in 2022, and the American startup is now gearing up to reveal its third model series. The Rivian R2 will debut on March 7 in Laguna Beach, California, as a smaller electric crossover with a more affordable pricetag.
The debut date was confirmed in a teaser video the brand released, which mostly featured a bunch of happy people and families living their lives with generic marketing speak about “adventure.” What we really care about is the last bit of the video, where we get a glimpse of the R2’s front end and light signature. Like the R1 models, the R2 has vertical pill-shaped headlight pods with a long horizontal light bar across the top of the front end, but the R2’s corners are more rounded and the pods are smaller, featuring three internal light and sensor units instead of the four of the R1.
Brightening the screenshot doesn’t really help, but we can see the R2 has a squat stance and a tall greenhouse. Last year, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe and chief design officer Jeff Hammoud showed off a covered clay model of an R2 in an Instagram Q&A, revealing that the smaller SUV will have a similar profile to the R1S with an upright tailgate, broad shoulders and short overhangs.
While it’s unlikely there will be an R2T pickup model, at least not at launch, we don’t yet know what versions of the R2 will be revealed. What we see on March 7 will most likely be called R2S, but there could be other variants in the future. Regardless, Rivian has said the R2 will have a starting price in the $US40,000 range, and it will be built at the brand’s new factory in Georgia starting in 2026. The R2 will also ride on a new platform and use motors and batteries that are designed in-house.
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