Rivian will reveal the first model in the smaller, more affordable R2 range in early 2024, according to the company’s CFO Claire McDonough, who spoke with Emmanuel Rosner during Deutsche Bank’s Global Auto Industry Conference Call.
McDonough said she saw the clay model teased recently during a Q&A session with CEO RJ Scaringe and the whole team is “incredibly excited about the differentiation of the products.”
Rivian’s first R2-based model will be a mid-size SUV crossover which could have a starting price of around $40,000 and a maximum retail price of $60,000, slotting right under the flagship R1T pickup, which starts at $73,000, and the R1S SUV that has an MSRP of $78,000.
In other words, we can expect the upcoming R2S SUV---the name hasn’t been confirmed, but it will likely follow the same scheme as the R1 lineup---to have a similar size and price to the Ford Bronco.
Production of the R2 SUV is set to begin two years after its reveal, so sometime in 2026, when the company estimates it will have increased production of the R1-based vehicles to 85,000 units per year, up from 65,000, while production of the Amazon-only electric delivery van (EDV) will go down from 85,000 to 65,000 units yearly.
With this being said, the total capacity of the assembly facility in Normal, IL, will remain at 150,000 units per year in 2024, with a second factory yet to be built in Georgia set to take over the manufacturing of the R2 models.
During the conference call, McDonough hinted at the possibility of the R2 platform reaching a global audience and not being restricted to North America only, as the R1-based vehicles are.
“So we talked a little bit about, right, where we were in 2018, 2019, relative to the work that we’ve been conducting over the course of the last two years to get those material costs down," McDonough said. "I hear we’re starting from a very different position of negotiations as it pertains to the R2 platform and the size and skill that that platform will become over time for Rivian. I’m not just [talking] in North America, but globally as well.”
