2026 Rivian R1S - when will they have more info on this?

[GRC]

Gen1 R1S (2024) owner here ...gen2 sounds good but nothing enticing enough y
To upgrade but looking ahead it would be good to know what 2026 will bring

Most car manufacturers release their 2026 models late 2025....so in the next 6-9months.... Does anyone have any info what a 2026 R1S will look like? My wish list items:

1) captain seats
2) automatic seat fold and unfold for the 3rd row
3) massage feature (grand wagoneer and a bunch of other high end brands have this)
4) sunroof that opens

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[DayTripping]

Since Gen2 just came out for 2025, likely not many changes. They are busy working on the R2. No chance in hades we'll see an opening sunroof. Likely too much rework and cost of the pano roof.

You might get the seat folding or relatively simple updates.

Who knows, like many companies we might just BNG updates (bold new graphics).

 

[GRC]

Yeah you may be right about all the focus being on the R2... however I feel like the design for r2 has been completed for sometime...so I am certain there is a R1 design team that is looking ahead...maybe it is 2027 then where they will have enough changes to entice a Gen1 owner to upgrade...

Probably best not to introduce too many changes too quick.

 

[DayTripping]

Personally, I'd love to see Gen3 as Gen2 didn't go far enough for me. Realistically, Rivian can't keep bleeding cash so if the R2 isn't a success, it will be challenging for them to survive. So I expect minor updates like Tesla has done to their X and S since they refreshed them in 2021.

 

[Zorg]

I expect no change that any of us will notice

 

[fxstein]

I bet they are working hard on hardening the Gen2 and make it way more reliable.
I expect the next 2-3 years to be very incremental on the HW platform side. Ironing out all the little (and larger) kinks.

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

While none of us knows for certain what 2026 will bring for R1S …you all know I like to speculate ?

I would speculate nothing notable changes with R1S for 2026 except maybe some minor stuff to correct known issues. 2026 is more likely to be dominated by the release of R2 and the Georgia factory buildout.

right now, the entire EV industry is dealing with a very cost-conscious and financially strained consumer. So auto makers will need to focus more energy on their mass market, more affordable vehicles.

I am hopeful we also see R3 shortly after in 2027.

back to your original question about the R1 S I think the big story with R1 S will be software. With a GEN two hardware Rivian has given itself a lot more capability to be able to expand the functions and feature set of the vehicle overtime one of the best things about owning a Rivian is the software update which make the vehicle better and better overtime.

 

[NDIrish]

Gen1 R1S (2024) owner here ...gen2 sounds good but nothing enticing enough y
To upgrade but looking ahead it would be good to know what 2026 will bring

Most car manufacturers release their 2026 models late 2025....so in the next 6-9months.... Does anyone have any info what a 2026 R1S will look like? My wish list items:

1) captain seats
2) automatic seat fold and unfold for the 3rd row
3) massage feature (grand wagoneer and a bunch of other high end brands have this)
4) sunroof that opens

My uneducated guess

1) may happen
2-4). They probably thought about them for Gen 1.. researched it, and decided against it for whatever reason and that reason is unlikely to change until they finish R2 and R3 and need to do a major refresh on the R1 series to remind owners it's the flagship.

They will need the cash flow from the R2 and R3 to take ultra-premium swings with the R1... Until then the R1 has to generate the cash and so they will thread the needle with wow features that have broad appeal (keep variations low, so everyone will have to want it) and little overall change to the supply chain and manufacturability. (Like the dimming panoroof, vs opening roof)

 

[savethemanual]

OP, It seems like you're seeing Rivian as an established car company with regular update intervals. They are still very much a start up with a lot of uncertainty ahead. From my understanding, Gen 2 R1's were driven from development of R2 and the cost savings associated with that.

Like others have mentioned, it's all hands on deck to get R2 into production which involves a hell of a lot more than just having the design complete. With that being said, their future looks bright!

 

[rlmich]

There will absolutely NOT be any big changes coming to the 2026 R1S as others have mentioned due to gen 2 launch in 2025 and resource focus into R2. The compelling reason to move from a gen 1 to gen 2 R1S is the change in hardware allowing for big leaps forward in software updates like various levels of autonomous driving. Gen 1 vehicles will not be advancing in this area unfortunately.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

They just released an update to the hardware this year. There will be no hardware changes. It would be dumb as a business to keep retooling and paying those costs without realizing profits.

The only reason they updated to begin with was to reduce per unit costs. So it was small upgrades to consumers but big upgrades to profit.

 

[tpberding]

I bought my 2023 R1S Gen 1.5, a year ago. Fantastic truck and does everything I want to do. Of course, I don't take it rock climbing, but I can't imagine we'll see many hardware upgrades any time soon. It's like my iMac, a very capable hardware platform that gets software upgrades OTA. Will last as long as Rivian continues to support my version.

 

[mkg3]

Rivian (and Tesla, Lucid) is more generation-based change than annual updates that the legacy auto makers do.

While there may offer trivial changes and add a feature or two that require almost no cost to them, model year change simply means higher serial number and the year it was made.

If anything changes in 2026, my guess is a new paint color or two.

Also, I fully expect the gen2 quad to be released as 2026 model year and perhaps discontinued tri-motor variant.

 

[DayTripping]

I bought my 2023 R1S Gen 1.5, a year ago. Fantastic truck and does everything I want to do. Of course, I don't take it rock climbing, but I can't imagine we'll see many hardware upgrades any time soon. It's like my iMac, a very capable hardware platform that gets software upgrades OTA. Will last as long as Rivian continues to support my version.

I am in this same camp.

As far as SW updates, while there may be more potential for advanced features with the G2 platform, what the G1 offered when I bought it covered what I wanted the truck to do. Tesla offered a lot more features, and likely FAR more than Rivian will ever get to with the G2 platform, it still wasn't enough to convert my Cybertruck reservation to a sale.

I can't think of anything that they will roll out from a SW perspective that will make me think, "Hmmmm.... I should have bought a G2." Now they could surprise me, but I doubt it. I look at all the features that my Teslas have from a SW perspective and don't use a lot of them. The ones that I would like to see on my R1T would likely port to both G1 and G2. The question is will they port to the G1 or just pretty much close that code branch to any new features. If they did, I'd be pretty pissed off TBH. Tesla has a pretty good history of supporting previous gens at least in my experience over the last 5 years. The only 2 things I'd really want are launch control and selectable front to rear power bias.

At the same time, I could leave with how my truck is if they never added features. Would I be happy about it? No, but I could still live with it. If it becomes an issue, I can always pick up a Cybertruck cheap now.

 

[DuoRivian]

I would expect the R2 steering wheel to come over in the 2027 R1. Provides an update and aligns their supply chain for that item.

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