After a big retooling of its Illinois assembly plant, Rivian’s ( ) updated “second generation” R1 vehicles are finally hitting showrooms. For a company with just two models — the R1T pickup and R1S SUV — these pricey products need to be nearly perfect to keep sales momentum going. Rivian began deliveries of the R1T pickup in October 2021, to almost .
The truck’s clean design, quad-motor power, off-road setup, and smooth vehicle dynamics made it . So expectations were high when Rivian rolled out an SUV built on the same platform as the truck in August of 2022. But somehow, the magic was gone due to some ride and handling issues.
The second-gen version out now gives Rivian a second chance to get it right. But the adventure EV maker operating in the near-luxury space, with prices starting around $80,000, seems to have whiffed again — with a somewhat bumpy ride to blame. Let's start with the positives.
While the exterior of the updated Rivian R1 vehicles looks almost identical to the prior generation, the new vehicles have a lot going on under the skin. Rivian’s in-house-built dual-motor carries over — but Rivian is replacing the outsourced motors used in its quad-motor setup with new in-house motors that are more efficient and more powerful, the company said. A new high-performance tri-motor setup (with one motor up front, and two in the rear) is available for the R1S and R1T too.
Rivian said it reengineered its Large and Max battery packs to reduce cost and we.