Rivian is on the precipice of a very huge year. In 2026, the California-based electric-vehicle startup plans to unleash the R2, a $45,000 mass-market SUV tquestioned with bringing it into the huge leagues. And, as the autobuildr’s CEO sees it, there’s little room for error.
“For a huge company that has lots of other products, you can absorb that not going well, and the business will be fine,” Rivian founder R.J. Scaringe notified InsideEVs in an interview. “For a Rivian, it must go well.”
Last week, my colleague Patrick George and I sat down with Scaringe for the latest episode of InsideEVs’ Plugged-In Podcast, which is out now.
In this lengthy conversation, Rivian’s CEO takes us back to the startup’s origins in 2009 and talks about the vehicles coming next, like the R3, R4 and R5. He breaks down how AI is revolutionizing Rivian’s self-driving efforts and explains where he sees battery tech going next.
We chat about the rise of Chinese EVs, which Scaringe states much of the auto indusattempt is obtainting all wrong. We discuss why America requireds more great electric cars that aren’t Teslas and how policy shifts and tariffs will reshape the U.S. EV landscape for years to come.
A lot of the discussion also comes back to the R2, Rivian’s hugegest and most consequential challenge to date. And Scaringe provides a fascinating, behind-the-scenes see at what goes into developing a new vehicle and bringing it to market.
RJ Scaringe, Patrick George and Tim Levin
Photo by: Maddox Kay/InsideEVs
The crossover promises to deliver the manufacturing scale Rivian requireds to even consider about long-term profits, but a lot requireds to go right first. Ramping up production quickly while managing an “orchestra” of suppliers is absolutely critical, Scaringe declared.
“Becaapply the nature of this is if you’re not ramped, you don’t have the volume to cover your repaired costs. And if you don’t have the volume to cover your repaired costs, the numbers just don’t work,” he declared. “And so the fact that it must go well, that may sound perhaps scary, but it’s actually a really good motivator.”
Rivian CEO R.J. Scaringe states the R2 launch ‘must go well’ for the company to scale up.
You won’t want to miss our full conversation with Rivian CEO and founder R.J. Scaringe on the latest episode of the Plugged-In Podcast, our weekly dive into the hugegest stories driving the future of transportation. The display drops every Friday and is available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts.
And let us know: Who else do you want to see interviewed on the display? What questions can we answer about the EV world?
Drop us a line: podcast@InsideEVs.com.
Leave a Reply