Rivian will reveal its next-generation car — a smaller, cheaper electrical SUV often known as R2 — on March 7, the corporate introduced Monday morning.

There’s little different element concerning the occasion, although it’s anticipated to be held in Laguna Seaside, California, as the corporate just lately filed paperwork for an occasion there below the title “RIVIAN R2 LAUNCH.”

The R2 is a giant alternative for Rivian. It’s purported to retail within the $40,000-$60,000 vary, making it way more reasonably priced than the R1S SUV and R1T pickup truck the corporate’s been promoting for the final two years. Rivian CEO and founder RJ Scaringe has stated the R2 might be made at a bigger scale than its present autos.  The R2 gained’t be out there till at the least 2026, although, as the corporate nonetheless must construct the manufacturing unit in Georgia the place it plans to make the SUV.

Rivian constructed greater than 57,000 autos in 2023 and delivered simply over 50,000, together with the business vans it makes for Amazon. However it’s nonetheless dropping 1000’s of {dollars} on each one of many vans and SUVs it makes on the R1 platform. The platform that powers the R2 SUV needs to be extra environment friendly and, when produced at scale, may assist the corporate push itself into profitability — particularly as Rivian builds different autos on the brand new platform.