New Rivians Are Too Cool for School
Rivian's news vehicles are seriously dope.
Rivian announced some great-looking new vehicles this week, and I couldn't be more excited. The R1 series has been the gold standard for innovation in the EV space since its launch, but has also been prohibitively expensive and notoriously hard to gets your hands on. While these new vehicles likely won't fix the latter problem, Rivian says the new R2 will start at $45,000, less than the current average price of a new car. If the price holds up when the R2 is slated to start deliveries in the first half of 2026, that's huge. Let's just hope Rivian makes it that long.
The R2 is a leap forward in thoughtful design but keeps much of what makes the R1S so great. Standout new features include two(!) glove boxes over the R1 series' none, fold-flat seats in every position (including driver and passenger) for a top-tier car camping experience, roll-down rear glass and pop-out rear quarter windows, clever scroll wheels with haptic feedback on the steering wheel, and an NACS charging port (said to be compatible with CCS via an adapter).
However, the R3 stole the show in an Apple-style "one more thing" moment. Significantly smaller than the R2, and even cheaper, this crossover/hatchback mashup might start to approach being genuinely affordable, especially if it manages to qualify for federal tax credits. It keeps the Rivian spirit of being adventure-ready and benefits from the R2's improvements in architecutre and on the inside. And it looks like an 80s VW Golf, which is freakin' awesome. No word on actual pricing or launch dates for this one, unfortunately.
Images coutesy of Rivian