Rivian surprise announces the R3 hatchback

I have not seen one in the Midwest yet. Pickups are very popular here in general

I see about one Cybertruck every time I leave the house here in the East Bay. Not nearly as ubiquitous as the other Tesla models, but no longer a stop-and-gawk novelty.

> how strong is Rivian financially?

I'm no expert on balance sheets and income statements, but with 2022 cash ending $11.5 billion and 2023 ending $7.9 billion, and losing 33% car value every time they sell a car (COGS + Depreciation at 133%). Their 2023 Operating Income was losing $5.4 billion, yikes. It doesn't look great.

Fisker also is currently going bankrupt, but I'm sure they were extra poorly run.

I have yet to see any Cybertrucks here in Seattle, at all. Lots of Rivians, though, and of course plenty of normal Teslas.

The R3 is heavily based on the R2, so that will reduce the cost and time to market somewhat.

They also said that they are pausing their spending on the Georgia factory and will build the R2 in Illinois. I don’t know how much they’ve been spending on the new factory, but that will be some amount of cost savings.

One thing that concerns me is that the R3 is getting a lot more attention than the R2. If all the buyers skip the R2 and wait for the R3, they aren’t likely to survive.

Rivian needs to do some clever marketing around the R2. They briefly showed the R2 with all the seats folded down. Run with that… I have a Subaru Outback that will need to be replaced in the next few years. One of the things that I actually do with it is to fold down the front passenger seat and the passenger side 2nd row seat. And then load it up with 2x6s from Home Depot. Close all the doors, drive away like normal. What other vehicle can do that nowadays? The R2.

“Instant” may be an issue - none of the cars shown will ship for another couple of years.

Was it really that pronounced? On paper it’s 3.3s vs 2secs 0-100 right?

I’m only on my first Model Y, and it’s a great car albeit a bit cramped with a kid and a dog, and some pretty dumb UX/design choices. Rivian seems to be the only company building thoughtful, well-sized EV SUVs rather than trucks. Definitely going to choose the R2 for our next car; nice to see some competition while Tesla is asleep at the wheel with the cybertruck.