Rivian opened its California headquarters to the car-design community on Sunday, hosting an informal gathering that showcased its unreleased R3 crossover and its performance-focused variant, the R3X.
The event, Pistons & Pretzels California, was created and run by Konzepthaus, a German automotive-design consultancy that stages the series across Europe and the United States.
The latest edition ran on the morning of July 19 at Rivian‘s headquarters in Irvine, a registration-only meet-up for designers, students, executives and enthusiasts.
Among the attendees was Chris Benjamin, the design chief of rival Scout Motors.
Konzepthaus had planned an event with Rivian the previous year but was rained out, returning this time under clear California skies.
The EV maker hosted the gathering and used it to display its range, from the R1S SUV and R1T pickup to the recently launched R2 and the smaller R3 and R3X — models it has shown only sparingly since revealing them in March 2024.
The R3 in the Spotlight
The R3 is Rivian‘s planned model below the R2, and the least-seen vehicle in its pipeline.
Rivian revealed the R3 and the sportier R3X alongside the R2 in March 2024, then kept them largely out of public view while it concentrated on getting the R2 to market.
The R3 is a compact crossover pitched as Rivian‘s most affordable model, which the company has said will be priced in the mid-to-high $30,000s — notably below the R2 — while the R3X is a rally-inspired performance version with a raised ride height.
Both were surprise additions when the R2 was shown in 2024.
The R2, by contrast, has just made its public debut.
Rivian unveiled the production version of the mid-size SUV at the SXSW festival in Austin on March 12, returning as the event’s headline sponsor and building a downtown off-road course where the public could ride in the vehicle.
Rivian has not set a firm launch date for the R3, but the timing is coming into focus.
Its $5 billion second factory, in Georgia, which Rivian says it expects to be fully operational by 2028, is set to build both the R2 and the cheaper R3.
In a June interview on The Drivecast, founder and chief executive RJ Scaringe said the R3X performance version was “a couple of years away”, a window that lines up with that plant, and added that Rivian had a clear internal timeline it had not yet announced.
Scaringe has also cast the R3 as the model most likely to expand Rivian‘s reach beyond the R2, telling MotorTrend that any further variants would follow it rather than arrive alongside it.
He has said the sportier R3X will launch first, ahead of the standard R3.
A Rival in the Room
Among the guests was Chris Benjamin, chief design officer of Scout Motors, the revived American off-road brand, who shared pictures on his Instagram stories.
His posts showed the cars on display, including two images of the R3 and one of a Rivian R1T, wrapped in white and green, towing a Porsche 911 GT3 RS in a matching wrap.
Scout is owned by the Volkswagen Group, which is also one of Rivian‘s biggest backers.
The two companies formed a joint venture in 2024 to share software and electrical architecture, an arrangement worth billions of dollars that has helped fund Rivian‘s push toward profitability.
Volkswagen has committed up to about $5.8 billion to the Rivian venture, among the largest tie-ups between an established carmaker and an EV start-up.
Scout is Volkswagen‘s revival of the International Harvester Scout, the American off-roader built from 1961 to 1980, whose brand rights the group acquired in 2021.
The company unveiled two vehicles in 2024, the Traveler SUV and the Terra pickup, and plans to sell them directly to customers, as Rivian does.
Those body styles put Scout squarely on Rivian‘s turf, the Traveler against the R1S and the Terra against the R1T, in the same rugged, off-road electric niche.
Scout, led by former Audi of America chief Scott Keogh, is building a plant in Blythewood, South Carolina, and targets the start of production in 2027, which would bring its vehicles to buyers roughly a year after the R2.Stellantis
Benjamin, who joined Scout in 2023 after leading interior design at Stellantis and earlier stints at Volvo and BMW, oversees the look of those vehicles.
