The head of electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian says that its next generation of smaller EVs will make getting into a Rivian less expensive. But that doesn’t apply just to the new R2 and R3 models with their smaller size and lower price tags. RJ Scaringe also thinks that the new EVs will make the R1S and R1T more affordable.
2025 Rivian R1S Sport Utility
- Drivetrain
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All-Wheel Drive
- Transmission
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Automatic
- Horsepower
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665 HP
- Torque
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829 lb.-ft.
- Maximum Towing Capacity
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7,700 lbs.
During the company’s annual shareholder meeting earlier this week, Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe was asked about the company’s long-term plans for the R1 models, the pickup and SUV that launched the brand. Scaringe said that the R1 model has already seen some big upgrades, but that there would be more to come.
R1s Have Improved, But Rivian Isn’t Done
Rivian’s first big upgrades came when it launched the second versions of its truck and SUV in mid-2024. While they looked the same on the outside, they were very different under the skin, notably with many improvements to parts and software.
The changes included “a big upgrade in terms of its technology stack,” and Scaringe said that “we took a tremendous amount of the cost out of the vehicle with the Gen 2.” The upgrades included hundreds of hardware changes as well as new software. Some of the most noticeable include the new Tri-Motor version that makes 850 horsepower, and a new Quad-Motor setup generating a total of 1,025 hp – up from 835 in the previous generation.
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Many of the changes also helped Rivian lower expenditures. New battery manufacturing and packaging, in-house powertrain construction, and other updates to the process all led to lower manufacturing costs. But while there have been gains, Scaringe says there are more to be had.
R2 Lessons Make R1 More Affordable
“As we launch R2, there’s a lot of further cost-saving and improvements we’ve made to our overall technology stack, and we’re going to see those make their way into R1 in different ways. We’ll see first some of the electronics updates which will reflect things we’re doing in R2, and then ultimately, in the long-term, the platform itself will be updated, and at the time that we update it, we’ll be able to take further cost out of the vehicle architecture.”
Rivian plans to launch the R2 electric crossover in the first half of next year, and is targeting a price of $45,000. That’s an ambitious target; to hit it Rivian needs to do more than just build a smaller vehicle. It needs to develop more cost-effective platforms and leverage higher sales to increase economies of scale.
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Scaringe called the improvements to its vehicles and the company’s cost savings “dramatic,” and promised “many more” OTA feature updates to come. He also said that the company’s partnership with Volkswagen had “been a validation of the software and of the electrical architecture platforms we’ve created,” saying that he was excited to roll it out around the world in vehicles of varying price points.
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