Rivian R3 Makes Surprise Debut As Small EV With Awesome Hot Hatch Styling And Opening Rear Glass

Rivian surprised a room full of journalists at the South Coast Theater in Laguna Beach Thursday with the R3—a crossover based on the compact SUV the R2 also announced at the same press event.

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The R3 is five inches shorter than the R2’s 115.6-inch wheelbase, but comes with the same options of a Single, Dual, or even Tri Motors. If you go with three motors you’ll get a crossover with a 3 second 0 to 60 time. That’s absolutely bonkers. The all-new 4,695-cell battery delivers over 300 miles of range on a single charge for both R2 and R3. With a fast charger, owners will be able to get to 80 percent of battery life in just 30 minutes.

Like the larger Rivians, the new smaller vehicle comes with all sorts of neat storage features. Along with Rivian’s classic frunk the R3 has an automatic hatchback with a lifting back window the company calls “flipper glass.”

“We are so excited about what this sort of delivers beyond what we see in R2,” said Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe. “It takes the package of R2 and the platform, shrinks it, and is our take on what is a crossover. It’s a vehicle that is almost hard to define what it is.”

Under the skin, the R3 is pretty much same the R2. Both ride on an all new midsized platform, which our own Daniel Golson was able to see in person:

The interior is also more evolution than revolution, but it looks really good and has a lot of design and ergonomic improvements from the R1 trucks. You still get a large central touchscreen and a wide gauge display, with a more sculptural surround and a cool use of materials. A redesigned steering wheel has scroll wheels with dynamic haptic feedback, and in addition to a big glovebox in the normal place, there’s a second glovebox in the center underneath the main screen. The front seats fold forward along with the rears to create a completely flat interior space, and there are no speakers in the lower door for more storage space

Rivian hasn’t announced full specs yet, but the R2 rides on a brand new platform that uses a 4695-cell battery pack, with bigger cells than R1. Multiple powertrains will be offered, with the top-end model being a tri-motor setup that will run from 0 to 60 mph in “well under” 3 seconds. Every motor configuration will achieve more than 300 miles of range.

It’s a sweet little guy shaped like a friend, but unlike the R2, no pricing or release date has been announced. The R2 will start at $45,000 and will begin rolling off the production line in Normal, Illinois early in 2026. That likely means a long wait for this little guy, but it might just be worth waiting for.

Image: Rivian