Rivian brought a RAD-wrapped R2 to the media and analyst drive event held ahead of the SUV’s first deliveries, and founder RJ Scaringe all but confirmed a high-performance version of the model is in the pipeline — months after the company formalized the adventure-focused division behind it.
Asked by The Drive what happened to the tri-motor R2 shown at the model’s March 2024 debut but absent from the launch lineup, Scaringe pointed directly at the Rivian Adventure Department.
“Well, hence our discussion of RAD, and so there’s, you know, let’s stay tuned,” the executive said on the outlet’s Drivecast podcast, published Wednesday.
The R2 currently offers single- and dual-motor configurations, with the Performance with Launch Package at $57,990 the only version available to order — a trim matrix that, unlike the R1’s, carries no motor-count names and leaves the long-promised tri-motor unaccounted for.
Journalist Joel Feder noted he saw the RAD-liveried R2 on the drive program itself: “It didn’t look different, but it had a RAD wrap. It was a very clear indicator of like, don’t you forget we’ve got a RAD department.”
“Turn the Dial to 11”
Scaringe framed RAD as the answer to the compromises required to hit the R2’s price point.
“We make decisions around certain aspects of performance that we think satisfy the most people. But we know that we could turn the dial up further,” he said. “Could we turn the dial to 11 and improve the performance of the vehicle dynamically? Of course, we have the engineering capabilities to do that.”
“RAD is an opportunity for us to take the vehicle, which is really — it’s fantastic. I’m very happy with where we’ve landed with R2 — but turn it to 11,” the CEO added, describing changes spanning on-road and off-road dynamics as well as “some of the visual imagery around the vehicle.”
The vehicles will go beyond cosmetic treatment, according to Scaringe.
“They’re not just like new badging on them. They’re going to be fundamentally improved under the skin, but that’ll add cost. And so it’s going to make them more expensive, but it’ll make them really, really exciting,” he said.
“We launched RAD really recognizing that we create this really balanced set of vehicles, but we actually want to have some vehicles that are a little less balanced… where we really go a little further on excitement, performance, and adventure.”
R3X Was a RAD Vehicle Before RAD Existed
Scaringe said the R3X — the rally-flavored crossover variant unveiled alongside the R2 and R3 in 2024 — previewed the formula.
“R3X was spiritually representative of the types of things we’ll do with RAD,” he said. “If we were showing R3X today, we would have called that a RAD vehicle.”
The CEO cited the concept’s wider track, raised ride height, larger wheels and a “motorsports-inspired” interior with cork flooring and woven seats, noting that the colors on the R3X tie directly to the palette Rivian has used for RAD branding.
Scaringe placed the division in the lineage of the industry’s performance arms, citing BMW’s M division, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche’s GT programs — operations that, like RAD, began as engineer-driven side projects.
“RAD is really that,” he said, describing “a skunkworks team whose objective is to make these cars more extreme.”
On timing, Scaringe said the company knows exactly when the vehicles arrive but is not ready to share: “Rivian has a really clear idea on timeline. We just haven’t announced it yet… They’re coming. We just haven’t announced the date. You know, it’s a couple of years away.”
Variants are planned on both the R2 and R3 platforms, he said, adding there is “a lot of things we can push further” on the quad-motor R1 — and that the company’s upcoming Georgia plant will build “a bunch of cool variants” alongside the R2 and R3.
RAD Announcement
The comments cap a trail Rivian has been laying since late February, when the company formalized RAD in Big Sky, Montana, on the eve of the 2026 FAT Ice Race — converting a long-running internal skunkworks operation into its official performance division.
“RAD is where we maximize the capability of our vehicles. Subjecting them to extreme conditions — from the 14,000-foot ascent of Pikes Peak to the barren deserts of the Rebelle Rally,” Luke Lynch, chief engineer of the R1, said at the announcement. “For us, the competition is only one element. Vigorously validating every system, component, and algorithm is the other.”
A RAD-wrapped pre-production R2 appeared at that February debut as well, alongside the R1S Quad the team raced on the ice.
In March, asked by The Drive about the missing tri-motor, a Rivian spokesperson answered “so much more to come” with a winking emoji.
The team, led by Brian Gase, traces its record through the 2023 Rebelle Rally — where Rivian became the first EV maker to win the longest off-road rally in the US, an effort that produced the Soft Sand Mode later shipped to customers over the air.
Those projects fed directly into customer-facing software: the Kick Turn function and the RAD Tuner, which lets quad-motor owners adjust ten powertrain and chassis variables and includes Desert Rally and Hill Climb presets developed from the racing programs.
Scaringe also stressed that the division’s name was chosen deliberately: “adventure” rather than “performance,” widening the mandate beyond vehicles to equipment such as winches and other accessories.
A Halo Strategy
Shares fell 6.6% on Tuesday over lease pricing and missing software features, which the company’s software chief said were “intentionally” held back and will arrive via monthly updates this summer.
A future RAD R2 would give the lineup a halo above the current range-topper, with the R2 Performance already matching the Tesla Model Y Performance on efficiency while undercutting much of the midsize premium field on price.
For now, the tri-motor R2 shown twenty-seven months ago remains unannounced in name — but a wrapped prototype at two consecutive events, a CEO answering its whereabouts with the division’s name, and a confirmed slot in the Georgia plant’s plans leave little doubt about where it went.
