Rivian just recently released a bunch of images of different goings-on but one has caught everyone by surprise. Is this Rivian’s extended cab pickup that nobody knew existed? Or is it something else entirely? We’ve all seen the crew-cab and the SUV versions of Rivian’s electric trucks, which are just about ready to start production. But a Rivian extended cab? 

The sharp-eyed member of the Rivian Owners Club forum posted this for everyone to ponder. It also shows up on Rivian’s website in the Cold Weather Testing section. Some forum members are saying it is just shot from a weird angle and that it is just another crew-cab. Not so!

Is it cobbled together to hide whatever is underneath or is it a prototype?

It is definitely an extended cab. Whether it is cobbled together to hide whatever is underneath or is an actual prototype, we don’t know? It could be covering up the smaller pickup that Rivian has been rumored to be developing. But the proportions look to be similar to the pickups we’ve seen, indicating this is an extended cab pickup. 

Rivian is said to be planning lower-priced trucks much like the Ford Ranger and Chevy Colorado. And that makes sense to try and cover as many markets as possible. So there are both R2 and R3 models being planned, each one a step smaller than the previous. So R1=largest, and R3=smallest.

 It this looks like something cobbled together to see an extended cab

As for this leaked image once you scrutinize it this looks like something cobbled together to get the general sense of what an extended cab would look like. It looks more like something body engineers do than as a design exercise. You can see the breaks in the panels which are not cut lines. Also, the top of the side window has a rather abrupt downward kink. We suspect it would be handled a bit more gracefully than what is shown here if it was something closer to production.  

We stabbed a side view of a Rivian pickup into Photoshop

For fun, we stabbed a side view of a Rivian pickup into Photoshop and sort of recreated what we think is being shown in this photo. When you see it in its entirety it looks more like something to compete as a Bronco EV than as an extended cab pickup. With the reception that the Bronco has received would a Bronco-like Rivian be a better way for the EV company to go than with an extended cab pickup? 

Obviously, if there is such a huge market for the full-size Bronco, and it appears as though there is, why not take a page from Ford and cut down your pickup to make a two-door SUV? Virtually all of the tooling exists. Rivian would just need a shorter frame, top panel, and a few other bits and pieces. 

C’mon Rivian! Let’s see you do this.