It created an electric pickup and an electric SUV while prepping a monster IPO.
It now plans to sell an even cheaper SUV that could make Rivian a dominant EV player for years to come.
These changes mean that, for the first time since the company broke stealth in 2018, Rivian’s immediate future is actually remarkably clear.
Fisker is on the brink of bankruptcy after dealing with underwhelming sales of its electric SUV and myriad quality and service problems.
If Rivian wants to survive long enough to ship its more affordable mass-market R2, it really needs these revamped vehicles to sell well.
Rivian has a little cinematic surprise tucked in its new “treehouse” rooftop tent, one of the many accessories the automaker plans to sell alongside its next-generation R2 SUV and future R3 EVs.
The rooftop tent, which Rivian calls the treehouse, is equipped with a movie projector, which is run using power from the Rivian, Brian Gase, Rivian’s senior director of prototype and special projects, told TechCrunch during a customer event in Laguna Beach, California.
The customer event was held Thursday evening, several hours after Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe unveiled the all-electric R2 SUV and the sporty R3 and R3x hatchback vehicles.
The treehouse, as Rivian has branded it, is different from the white-labeled Yakima tent designed for its flagship R1T truck.
This new treehouse product is contained in a hardshell, which then opens up into a large rooftop tent.
Rivian just surprise-announced an all-electric hatchback called the R3 — giving the company a big Apple-esque “one more thing” announcement at the event that was ostensibly supposed to be all about its new R2 SUV.
And it represents an entirely new market for Rivian to try and play in of smaller EVs — crucially, one that Tesla currently dominates.
While we knew Rivian was working on an “R3,” I’m not sure many people expected it to look quite like this.
Unfortunately, the company didn’t immediately share… any real details whatsoever about when the R3 will be available, or how much it will cost.
The R3 is a near-term fix for that, apparently, as Rivian’s stock price soared after the surprise reveal.
