The American car company Rivian has introduced three new electric cars. The Tesla competitor comes with an electric SUV called R2, but also with two crossovers that are in a lower price segment: R3 and R3X. All three have a ‘glasses’-like front with a white line and two circles for the headlights.
Rivian may not mean much to you and that is not surprising: it does not make that many cars, only the R1T and the R1S, which are a pickup and an SUV. It also doesn’t really make very many cars yet, but this promises to change with this Rivian R2, R3 and R3X.
Rivian R2
This car will have to compete against Tesla, although that will take some time here in the Netherlands. The car will not be launched in our country until 2027: in North America you can see it on the road from 2026. Rivian R2 has a starting price of 41,000 euros (converted) and can drive autonomously thanks to eleven cameras and radar technology. The second variant, which has a larger battery, can travel 500 kilometers on a single charging session. At 4.7 meters, the car is a formidable opponent of the Tesla Model Y.
There is a single-motor R2 and a dual-motor R2, with the latter setup delivering a speed from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than 3 seconds. Rivian has deliberately made the starting price of the car tens of thousands of euros cheaper, because it hopes to be a good competitor for Tesla with this more commercial car. 215,000 must roll off the production line at the Illinois plant every year.
Rivian R3
The R3 is a medium-sized crossover, but other than that Rivian doesn’t say much about it. Not much is known about the other new car, Rivian R3X. Both cars have two batteries to choose from. The largest battery has a range of 483 kilometers. What Rivian did reveal is that these cars have a wheelbase of 2.8 meters. There will be a variant with three engines that goes from 0 to 96 kilometers per hour in less than 3 seconds. Furthermore, Rivian is not yet very clear about these two cars and that is not surprising: it will probably take years before we can view them in real life or order them.
Rivian has not always had it easy in recent years. This saw Ford leave, which had invested heavily in the company (billions of dollars). There was also supposed to be a European collaboration with Mercedes, but that was put on hold. But still, things are going well, because it is not without reason that the R2 would come to the Netherlands. It will still take years, but car enthusiasts will probably need it to get used to the electric car market a little more, something that does not seem to be going very fast at the moment.
