Rivian’s new, more affordable R2 is right around the corner! Here’s what we know.
Tomorrow, Rivian will officially pull the wraps off its latest SUV that it’s been teasing for the past several months. It’s meant as a smaller and less expensive sibling to the R1S, and the automaker’s been keeping the hype up with posts to X (or Twitter, if you refuse to use that single letter). From the official teasers, we know one thing for certain: The apple isn’t falling too far from the tree with regard to the R2’s styling. Beyond that, though, Rivian has been mum on revealing any specs for its Tesla Model Y competitor.
You can only keep internet sleuths at bay for so long, though, and one particular owner managed to pull down some R2 specs from no other source than Rivian’s own retail site. By digging into the page code, Chris Hilbert (who also broke the details via Twitter/X) laid out what we should expect from the mini-R1S set to debut in Laguna Beach on March 7.
Since Rivian obviously won’t comment on whether this information is accurate, I do have to stress that you may want to take it with a grain of salt until everything is official. The measurements aren’t likely to change, but pricing and range are always moving targets, and could change even after the R2 debuts, whether the information on the site was up-to-date and accurate. Keep in mind, the company doesn’t plan to actually launch its new model until the 2026 model year, so there’s plenty of time for some numbers to change.
Still, there are plenty of juicy figures to sink our teeth into here, from physical dimensions to driving range and pricing. According to what Hilbert found, the new Rivian R2 will start at $47,500, landing just about in the middle of CEO RJ Scaringe’s $40,000 to $60,000 price estimate. Taking into account potential tax incentives, you may be able to feasibly get an R2 for $40,000, while options will likely raise the bottom-line price to right around $60,000.
As for driving range, the R2 can apparently drive up to 330 miles on a charge. That is 70 miles short of what the R1S Max Pack can achieve, but we’d expect a slightly lower range for a smaller vehicle with a presumably smaller battery. Against the Max Pack’s 149-kWh capacity, the 330-mile figure still suggests the R2 has a sizable unit, and that driving range is better than the current Tesla Model Y Long Range. These specs also include a 3-second 0-60 time, which would actually make the R2 quicker than a Model Y Performance, if that’s accurate in real-world situations.
Then we get to size. Just how much smaller is the Rivian R2 compared to the R1S? The new model seems to ride on a 115.6-inch wheelbase (the ‘15.6’ Hilbert said is a typo, but that’s likely what was meant as the R1S is on a 121.1-inch wheelbase). Overall length measures out to 185.6 inches, while the R2 is 84.4 inches wide including the mirrors and 66.9 inches tall, with a maximum ground clearance of 9.8 inches. Those figures make the R2 15.2 inches shorter than the R1S in length and 6.8 inches narrower. The Rivian R1S is 77.3 inches tall, though, and it doesn’t seem too likely that the R2 is nearly a full foot shorter, especially while its ground clearance is still right there with a Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro.
Thanks to the lower clearance, though, the R2 does see worse (but still decent) off-road figures. The new model rides on a 32-inch wheel and tire package, with a 27-degree approach angle and 25-degree departure angle. Breakover was not currently listed.
Even with all this information, there’s still plenty we don’t know about the 2026 Rivian R2. Hopefully, we’ll get much more clarity through the reveal tomorrow, and we will have that coverage for you on our TFLEV channel.
