American electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian has officially confirmed that the premiere of its new, most affordable electric crossover R2 will take place on March 7. The company published the corresponding announcement on the social network X. It was previously reported that the event should take place in one of the city parks of the Californian city of Laguna Beach.
Rivian has released virtually no information about the R2 , showing the car only as a fabric-covered clay model. Apparently, it will retain the angular design in the spirit of the current R1S SUV and R1T pickup, but will be more compact and will be more intended for city trips. Potential competitors in the US market include Tesla Model Y , Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV 6.
In December, Rivian CEO RJ Scarage said prices for the R2 would start at around $45,000 to $50,000. For comparison, the most affordable R1T starts at $80.8k.
Despite its imminent debut, the Rivian R2 will go on sale no earlier than 2026. According to the brand’s CEO, for his company, this launch will be a “Model 3 moment,” referring to the numerous difficulties that Tesla faced in ramping up production of its sedan. Elon Musk has repeatedly stated that at that time the automaker risked going bankrupt if he could not fix all the problems in a very short period.
The Rivian R2 will be produced at a new $5 billion plant in Georgia. The crossover should be followed by several more models with indexes up to R5; the corresponding names have already been registered.
Starting this spring, owners of Rivian electric vehicles will be able to charge at Tesla terminals: the company has decided to transfer its models to the competitor’s proprietary charging standard, following many other manufacturers. At the first stage, you will have to use an adapter to connect to the Supercharger network, but from 2025 all cars of the brand will receive the new port as standard equipment.