Rivian will reveal its next-generation car — a smaller, cheaper electrical SUV often called R2 — on March 7, the corporate announced Monday morning.
There’s little different element in regards to the occasion, although it’s anticipated to be held in Laguna Seaside, California, as the corporate just lately filed paperwork for an event there beneath the title “RIVIAN R2 LAUNCH.”
The R2 is an enormous alternative for Rivian. It’s purported to retail within the $40,000-$60,000 vary, making it way more reasonably priced than the R1S SUV and R1T pickup truck the corporate’s been promoting for the final two years. Rivian CEO and founder RJ Scaringe has stated the R2 might be made at a bigger scale than its present automobiles. The R2 gained’t be obtainable till at the very least 2026, although, as the corporate nonetheless must construct the manufacturing facility in Georgia the place it plans to make the SUV.
Rivian built greater than 57,000 automobiles in 2023 and delivered simply over 50,000, together with the business vans it makes for Amazon. Nevertheless it’s nonetheless shedding hundreds of {dollars} on each one of many vans and SUVs it makes on the R1 platform. The platform that powers the R2 SUV ought to be extra environment friendly and, when produced at scale, might assist the corporate push itself into profitability — particularly as Rivian builds different automobiles on the brand new platform.
