Electric vehicle maker Rivian has announced plans to introduce a new compact SUV next month.
Rivian founder and CEO R.J. Scaringe said during a recent interview on CNBC, the R2 will be cheaper than the R1S SUV and the R1T truck that are both made in Normal. The new SUV will be built at Rivian's new $5 billion factory near Atlanta, Georgia. Production is scheduled to begin in 2026.
“They’ll be smaller in terms of form factor, but also much lower price point, but carry the essence of the brand we created with the R1,” Scaringe said.
Car & Driver reports the R2 is expected to cost between $40,000 and $60,000.
Rivian plans to reveal the new R2 design on March 7.
This is it. Get ready to meet R2 on March 7th. pic.twitter.com/N2CKDTTZ5I
— Rivian (@Rivian) February 5, 2024
State Farm overflow
Rivian is using State Farm's Corporate South headquarters in south Bloomington for overflow parking for thousands of electric vehicles that are awaiting delivery.
Scaringe said on CNBC the backlog is traced to Rivian's No. 1 customer.
“Amazon doesn’t take delivery of commercial vans, really from the middle of November through the end of the year because they are so focused on their busiest time of the year. So, we end up building up a little bit of inventory during that period ... which we burn down over the course of the first half of the following year," Scaringe said.
it's not clear how long the backlog is expected to last.
Rivian more than doubled production from 2022 to 2023, according to Rivian spokesperson Kelli Felker.
