Maybe R2 is Rivian's Model T Moment after all...   The cat’s out of the bag. The Rivian R2 is good, and customers know it. In fact, they’re so in the know that the R2 is outselling the R1T and R1S combined, the company confirmed during its third-quarter earnings call. Along with outselling the other customer-focused products, the R2 is also outselling Rivian’s EDV delivery vans.   Rivian says the R2’s strong showing means the company is able to increase its yearly sales projections to between 67,000 and 70,000 vehicles; the previous projection was for 65,000. When the more affordable trims do arrive, those sales figures could increase even more.

From what I can figure, the timing of the CE1 project came right after Lightning’s +200,000 reservations evaporated. I sense that Farley knew then that the existing strategy of large BEVs was not attracting enough interest.   The reason for the secrecy at the time was obviously not to harm Lightning or Mach E or the coming 3 row suv  but also I suspect it was to stop interference from the Ford Electrification team trying to control the project, the fact that their key cards were locked out of the skunkworks is another big tell.   Random thought, Lightning’s perimeter frame around the battery pack reminds me of the Panther frame, could you imagine the ridiculous image of Crown Victorias and Lincoln Town Cars built as big ass BEVs with front and rear motor drives….

The fact that he kept it secret and didn't allow any interaction with legacy Ford folks at corporate says everything.

As a former Ford plant employee I have the "big shot bullshit detector" turned on at all times. 😄    In the case of the skunkworks though, everything you stated is right on the money. Jimbo really does deserve credit for that, and for changing the corpo culture at Ford for the better. It seems that at least some of the big shots have finally embraced long-term, strategic thinking in how they do their jobs at FoMoCo. That's much more important than any quarterly results.     

Farley gets all the credit for starting the skunkworks team, filling it with outsiders and applying their findings across the company.

And most likely non union in Ga.

Hey our labor may be expensive, but its not German expensive. HA

I was going to make the same point but you beat me to it. A few weeks ago we heard from a trusted contributor that a CD6 program was being delayed so that CE1/UEV elements could be incorporated into it to reduce costs. There will be spillover that helps mitigate UEV costs.   Farley has certainly put his neck out for UEV. If it is successful he will deserve a lot of credit for it.

We never feel the need to change the vent position.  Set them and forget them.

There are lots of other benefits to US plants.  Tariffs just pushed the business case over the edge.