Rivian Recap: 07/03/2025

The PNW should be just about perfect in the mid 70's. ☀️

R1

The Gen2 Quad-Motor finally launches on July 8th!

TK note: It looks like I'm going to get some early seat time with a quad-motor on July 8th. I'll work to get a fast turn around. Hat-tip to Emerald City Rivian Club and Chad Moran for helping me get that lined up!

New "Kick Turn" feature apparently coming to Gen2 Quads

TK note: This seems likely to be more of a 45* vs 360* 'Tank Turn", and is likely to only come to Gen2 Quads vs Gen1.

The "Big Beautiful Bill" has officially passed. The $7,500 EV credit goes away after September 30th.

R2

With the 'Big Beautiful Bill' that sends us to the back of the line in the clean energy space, essentially ceding worldwide relevance to Chinese auto, it's clear that there is no version of R2 that will qualify for a tax credit for at least 4 years.

That being said, Rivian has continued to commit to the $45k starting price point even amid changing features, tariffs, and a dynamic economic situation.

While the elimination of the tax credit before launch (which the R2 was designed to maximize the criteria for) is disappointing for the most price sensitive customers... I do think it is still going to be a hit product.

I'm hoping we start to see some more details on the specific options and colors, at minimum for the launch edition, by the end of the year.

Community

Staying on-brand, the Rivian community continues to be one the most supportive collection of smart, humble, go-getters I've come across.

And I've worked with some of the most successful business people that you've probably heard of at least once in your life.

I wanted to extend my thanks again to the my local Emerald City Rivian Club for helping fast track me to scheduled seat time in the new Gen2 Quad on launch day (July 8, 2025).

My promise to you is I will do my best to cut my thoughts and get you some decent footage of the new 1,025hp, 2.5s 0-60, quad-motor beast.

In reality, probably almost no one should buy the quad over the tri-motor, but I'm also fully expecting it to be very cool.

I also wanted to give a shout out to David Stewart who took advantage of the crazy Dune R1S deals for his wife.

Congrats on the stunning new rig, David!

And it's no surprise that this car now has you lusting over adding an R1T to the fleet. We welcome you and your wife to the dark side 😅.

(PS Did you recently pick up a new Rivian? I want to see it, shoot me a pic and you may be featured in a future Rivian Recap email!).

Autonomy

While unlikely to be a regular featured category, I wanted to highlight how cool it is that Tesla completed an autonomous delivery of a Model Y in Austin.

Yes, there are caveats and asterisks, but it's still an impressive milestone.

Would you ever order a car to be delivered similar to Uber Eats?

The future should be fun 🥳

Latest Deals

With the new bill passed through both the Senate and the House, it's now a lock that the $7,500 EV tax credit 'loophole' comes to an end on September 30th.

If you're interested in stacking the best deal on a new Rivian, make sure you do so as soon as possible before that date.

We are now likely coming to the tail end of 2025 models available, with the 2026 model year expected any day and starting with the 2026 Quad-Motor that launches on July 8th!

2026 models will be ~1k more expensive AND lose the 7.5k lease credit by September 30th, so if you're trying to shoot the gap on an early 2026 be mindful of that.

The best deal you should act fast on with the EV tax credit going away in just a few days is the standard pack R1S and R1T with the LFP battery.

Lease deals can be had for as low as $599/month now, but the preferred configurations with better audio and things like the powered v2 tonneau bump that up slightly.

This is a drop of around $200/month and is still eligible for other incentives such as the electric refresh offer below.

Electric Refresh Offer

Tri-Motor Deals

If the tri-motor is more your style, Rivian is offering a 'downpayment on them' where they will pay $6,500 of your down payment for a lease.

So if you're looking at a tri-motor R1S or tri-motor R1T, you can stack some of these offers together for a great deal on a heck of a 2025 configuration.

I hope enjoyed the this weeks edition of the Rivian Recap. Let me know what you'd like to see more of in future editions!

Even if you just want to say hi, hit reply – I'd love to get to know you 👋

Stay curious ✌️,

Travis Ketchum

P.S. Thinking about buying a new Rivian?

Make sure you use a referral code. A friend, a neighbor, or someone who has helped you along the way.

Here's mine: TRAVIS4699411