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Rivian revealed<\/a> the specs and pricing details for its pivotal R2 SUV on Thursday, and the company also finally answered a long-burning question: When will customers be able to buy the promised $45,000 base model?<\/p>\n That answer is \u201clate 2027,\u201d according to the company\u2019s press materials. And there\u2019s a catch. The language Rivian uses now is that the base model R2 will be \u201cstarting around<\/strong> $45,000.\u201d That\u2019s a notable change from how the company was recently promoting that the R2 would be \u201cstarting at<\/strong> $45,000\u2033 on its website. (Emphasis mine.) <\/p>\n This is not exactly surprising. As TechCrunch first reported last week<\/a>, Rivian removed the \u201cstarting at $45,000\u201d language from its website in February. <\/p>\n Also, a lot has changed since Rivian first revealed the R2 in March 2024<\/a>. The $7,500 federal EV tax credit is gone. Legacy automakers have stopped buying regulatory credits from companies like Rivian, effectively ending a stream of what was ostensibly free money pouring into its coffers. President Trump\u2019s chaotic tariffs have increased the cost of components and materials Rivian uses to make its EVs.<\/p>\n In some ways, Rivian has bigger challenges to deal with.<\/p>\n Sales of its R1T pickup truck and R1S SUV declined in 2025. Rivian is about to start constructing a giant factory in Georgia where it expects to build hundreds of thousands of R2 SUVs (and, eventually, R3 hatchbacks).<\/p>\n The company is also trying to architect what would be one of the fastest electric vehicle launches<\/a> in U.S. history with its more premium R2 models this year. Rivian is projecting sales of between 20,000 and 25,000 R2s by the end of 2026. If it succeeds, only Tesla\u2019s Model Y would have reached 20,000 in sales faster.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span> Rivian told TechCrunch it wanted to start with the pricier performance R2 models \u201cso owners can experience the absolute peak of the new platform first.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cDebuting with a high-spec trim is common industry practice and sets the stage for the entire lineup by showcasing the exceptional capability and acceleration that make a Rivian unmistakable, all while we scale production into our Premium and Standard configurations after,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n Rivian will offer a \u201cStandard\u201d R2 in the first half of 2027 that starts at $48,490, with a range of up to 345 miles. The true base model will only reach about 275 miles. That could be a sign of how Rivian is reaching the base model price \u2014 fewer batteries usually tracks with lower cost. The base model\u2019s more meager range could also serve a dual purpose by encouraging customers to pay up to a few thousand dollars more for clearly superior range.<\/p>\n Rivian told TechCrunch the two Standard models share the same rear-wheel-drive propulsion but declined to say whether there are other differences beyond the battery capacity that could explain the price difference. It also declined to comment on its upselling strategies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have made significant internal engineering, development and business efforts to reach our target price. We engineered out complexity by moving to a zonal electrical architecture, reducing the number of electronic control units, and utilizing our in-house drive units,\u201d the company said in a statement. Rivian said it also applied lessons from how it reduced the cost of its second-generation R1 vehicles, and leveraged better supplier relationships. <\/p>\n This all comes just a few months after Rivian agreed<\/a> to pay $250 million to settle a class action shareholder lawsuit centered around how the company suddenly hiked prices on its R1 vehicles in 2021.<\/p>\n It also has some light echoes of the controversy Tesla waded into a few years ago. Elon Musk and his company had spent years promising the Model 3 would cost $35,000. But Tesla only briefly<\/a> made a $35,000 Model 3 available \u201coff-menu,\u201d and even that plan didn\u2019t last long<\/a>. Many of the customers who tried to buy it were pressured into buying higher-trim versions of the sedan, all while Musk publicly complained about how hard it was to fulfill the promise he had made.<\/p>\n Another Tesla vehicle was once announced with an attractive price that never materialized: the Cybertruck. Tesla first pitched the steel-clad pickup in 2019 as starting at just $40,000. But it ultimately launched at much higher prices that, when mixed with its broadly off-putting design, resulted in very meager sales. <\/p>\n It seems unlikely that the R2 would break as bad as the Cybertruck did for Tesla. After all, it\u2019s a far more approachable vehicle that is also <\/em>starting at a much lower price \u2014 all without the political cost of having Elon Musk as the CEO. But only the next few years will tell whether the R2\u2019s base model winds up with a life that\u2019s more like the $35,000 Model 3, or the Cybertruck, or something completely different.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n