Inside Rivian’s Design Lab and the story behind the special headlights

Rivian made a name for itself when it unveiled one of the first electric pickup trucks, the R1T, in 2018. It followed with an SUV built on the same platform, the R1S, and has since built a passionate fan base around a brand that celebrates adventure and the outdoors.

Now it’s gearing up for its next chapter with the R2, a smaller ride on the R1S SUV, and the R3, a rally-inspired hatchback.

“A lot of people were surprised about R3,” Rivian design director Jeff Hammoud told CNBC. “It’s not something that I think many people would have guessed that Rivian would have done…and that was the key thing we were trying to show, we’re not pigeonholed to one form factor.”

The new vehicles, which were revealed in March last year, are part of Rivian’s strategy to reach a broader market for its electric vehicles, which currently start at over $70,000.

The R2, which the company says will start around $45,000, is expected to be in production by the end of this year at the company’s normal manufacturing facility.

“While R1 was designed through addition, we had to look at R2 through subtraction,” Hammoud said. “What are the things we can remove or remove, but still keep the ethos of the product and brand?”

The R2 and R3 arrive on the heels of a difficult period for the automaker.

Low demand, higher costs and the US canceling the EV credit could spell trouble for Rivian. But that hasn’t stopped the company from starting a new $5 billion factory in Georgia, where the next generation vehicles will be built.

“We’re launching R2 first at our facility in Illinois, but that’s really the site where we’re expanding global production. We’re building this in a 400,000-unit factory,” Rivian CEO RJ Scargege told CNBC’s Phil Lebeau at the factory construction site in September.

CNBC gained rare access inside Rivian’s design lab in Irvine, California, to see how the company shapes its distinctive vehicles. We see how the EV maker approaches the design of its adventure-focused EV line, which includes the backstory on how it designed its iconic headlights, a choice that caused mixed reactions when first evolved.

“They were controversial,” recalls Car and Driver editor John Voelcker. “It took a while for people to get over it. I think it was smart in that it’s harder to make your truck distinctive. So a front end that’s immediately like no one else’s is probably not a good thing.”

Watch the video Learn more about Rivian’s approach to design and its plans to expand its adventure-themed electric vehicle brand.