Rivian‘s founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said that the pricing point on the upcoming mid-size crossover R3 will be “notably lower” than the R2 sport-utility vehicle.
Speaking at the Rotary Club of Atlanta on Monday, where he also commented on Rivian’s upcoming East Coast headquarters, the chief executive noted that the two models will make the brand accessible to a wider audience.
“The R3 is more of a crossover, and we haven’t announced the pricing on it, but the pricing on R3 will be even lower than, quite a bit lower, I should say notably lower than R2,” Scaringe stated.
The R2 SUV, set to launch in the first half of 2026, will start at $45,000. The model is expected to debut with a higher-end variant.
The models are a major departure from Rivian‘s premium models, costing almost half as much as the R1 series and allowing the company to enter a new market segment.
For comparison, the R1T pickup starts at $70,990, while the R1S SUV begins at $76,990.
According to Scaringe, “the objective for those is just to make the brand experience of Rivian available to a lot more people.”
Mid-to-High $30,000 Pricing Point
In mid-2024, the CEO revealed that the R3 would be priced at “mid to high $30,000s.”
“The largest addressable market that we see and we believe will continue is in the midsized SUV space, and that puts us price point-wise below $50,000, north of $40,000, so in the $40,000 to $50,000 range,” Scaringe said then.
“And then linked to that, at a platform level is introducing a crossover product that brings us into the price points to start with the $30,000, mid to high 30s,” he added.
By then, Rivian expected to launch the model in early 2026.
However, while production of the R2 is now set to begin at its main Normal plant, the R3 lineup isn’t expected to launch until 2027-2028.
Launch Timeline
The timeline will coincide with the first operations of Rivian‘s second plant in Georgia.
After several delays, the $5 billion plant has started construction. It will support production of the R2 and the R3 models, and is expected to be fully operational by 2028.
Speaking with The Verge last year, Scaringe said that the brand will be launching the R2 first, “allowing some time to get that stable,” and only then move to the R3.
Additionally, the chief executive revealed that “the first R3 that we’re launching, it’s going to start with R3X,” referred to as a more “sporty” version of the vehicle.
Rivian‘s Chief Design Officer Jeff Hamund said earlier this year that, when he questions someone, “What vehicle segment do you think it belongs to? What does it look like to you?,” please say hatchback, CUV, SUV, crossover.
“The fact that no one can pin it down is exactly what we wanted,” he told MotorTrend.
R4, R5, R6?
Although the Rivian R2 and R3 models are still to be launched, the EV maker is already working on the R4 and R5 models.
Scaringe even admitted that “there may be like an R6,” but the four upcoming models were “as far out as out product plan goes today.”
Rivian has not yet revealed what type of vehicles the R4 or R5 will be.
Last month, the CEO emphasized the importance of clearly defining a vehicle before releasing its first details.
Scaringe said this approach was used for the R2 and that Rivian is “doing the same on R3 and R4.”
