When the Rivian R2 concept rolled onto the stage during its reveal event early this year, it received a thunderous applause from the audience. The electric crossover aims to herald a new era for Rivian as it now targets the mass market with a more affordable model. Looking at the reservation numbers, it seems like the anticipation is building up.
During an event at Rivian’s Normal, Illinois plant this past Sunday, the startup’s vice president of manufacturing Tim Fallon said pre-orders for the R2 reached “well over 100,000,” as reported by radio station WGLT. Fallon said the orders were increasing “organically.” The R2 had already logged over 68,000 reservations back in March, within 24 hours of the order window opening up.
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Rivian aims to go mass market.
Currently, California EV startup Rivian offers two models, the R1T electric truck and the R1S SUV. They're both adventure-focused luxury EVs that most Americans can't afford. With the upcoming R2 crossover, Rivian hopes to change that.
WGLT said Rivian is expected to hire more employees to meet its target of bringing the R2 to market in 2026. The model, which looks like a baby R1, is expected to start at $45,000, roughly in the same price range as the Tesla Model Y. The Model Y was the world’s best-selling car of all categories in 2023 and now several automakers are targeting that price range.
The R2 is expected to deliver similar capabilities as the far more expensive R1 models, but in a compact, more accessible package. It’s approximately 15 inches shorter than the R1S and the larger battery is expected to deliver at least 300 miles of range, Rivian said. It will come in single, dual and tri-motor variants. The tri-motor will have a 0-60 miles per hour time of under 3 seconds.
Gallery: Rivian R2
Current Rivian R1T and R1S owners already have access to Tesla Superchargers with an adapter. The R2 will come natively equipped with the North American Charging Standard (NACS) port. Should the port work as intended, tens of thousands of additional charging ports across the U.S. would be accessible to R2 owners.
While the R2 and its smaller R3 and R3X siblings received an enthusiastic response when they were revealed early this year, they were also met with some skepticism. That was regarding the upstart's survival through the decade. But Rivian has had a lot going for it since then.
It was awarded $827 million in state incentives to expand the Normal factory. Moreover, the Volkswagen Group formed a joint venture with Rivian last month to license its software and electrical architecture and further develop it for future VW and Rivian models. As a part of that deal, VW’s investment in Rivian is worth $5 billion.
The plant expansion should give Rivian a production capacity of 215,000 units annually. Of those, Rivian says 155,000 would be R2 models. That should theoretically help the automaker meet the demand, but it would be contingent upon how fast production ramps up to its capacity.
