U.S.-based electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian has posted a video teaser dedicated to the R2, a crossover SUV set to become its cheapest car in the lineup. After its debut on March 7, 2024, it will eventually reach production and compete with the likes of the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, and Tesla Model Y.
The short vid only focuses on the front end. The headlights look like those of the Rivian R1S, which you will find in the rest of the gallery and the video here. There are oval ‘Stadium Lights’ and a solid LED stripe spanning the entire car width.
The R1S is 5.1 meters (16.73 feet) long. Rivian doesn’t say how much smaller its affordable cousin is going to be, but we expect it to be an urban car suitable for the occasional picnic out in the wild – and that’s about it.
RJ Scaringe, CEO and founder of the startup company, said earlier that the R2 would be priced from $45,000–50,000. That’s at least $30,000 cheaper than the R1T pickup. The Tesla Model Y can be obtained from $43,000 in the USA, and you can get $7,500 off the list price with the currently active tax benefit.
The production of the R2 will only begin in two years from now. Rivian plans to start it at a new factory in Georgia that it plans to invest $5 billion into. The company is only running a single factory in Illinois right now, which used to belong to Mitsubishi Motors.