Rivian recently introduced the R1S SUV after its first vehicle, the R1T pickup truck, finally went into production in late 2021. But Rivian doesn't plan to stop there. The next step is to add a new, less expensive line called the R2, which should also offer SUV and truck variants. We won't see a production R2 for a while, but thanks to the company's CFO's speech at the Deutsche Bank conference last week, we now have more information on price and production dates.
CarBuzz reports that Rivian CFO Claire McDonough said the R2 line will be revealed next year, with production scheduled to begin in 2026. She also confirmed that Rivian expects to sell the R2 with a starting price of about $40,000. Loaded R2s, meanwhile, will top out at about $60,000. "That also creates a nice stretch for the brand. R1 has an average selling price of $73,000, so this lives right below that," she said.
From the sound of it, the R2 won't be as quick or as capable of an off-roader as the R1, but that's probably to be expected at a lower price point. According to McDonough, "It still maintains some of that adventure aesthetic, but it's also contemplating and thinking about ... where we're investing in capabilities that allow us to maintain that more affordable price point, and, therefore, a larger addressable market for the vehicles."
Rivian's certainly faced its share of challenges over the last several years, forcing it to delay deliveries of both the R1T and R1S. It also reportedly ran into a cash crunch and chose to lay off about 5 percent of its staff last year. But McDonough claimed the lessons the company has learned since then should help it bring the R2 to market more smoothly, saying:
One of the key differences is the starting place with suppliers. We talked about where we were in 2018/2019 relative to the work we've been conducting over the last two years to get those material costs down. We are starting from a different place of negotiation, as it pertains to the R2 platform and the size and scale that platform will become over time for Rivian.
You can read the full transcript of her speech over on Seeking Alpha.
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