Rivian owners have been asking for one thing above all else, and for the 2027 model year they’re finally getting it. The updated R1S SUV, announced Wednesday alongside the R1T pickup, adds an optional six-seat layout with second-row captain’s chairs — what the company calls its “most requested interior feature to date.” It arrives as part of a broader shake-up that renames every trim in the R1 lineup and nudges prices upward. Both models are available to order now.
The Seats Everyone Asked For
The new captain’s chairs replace the R1S’s standard second-row bench with two individual heated seats, each with its own armrest, fold-flat capability, and child-seat tie-downs. Just as useful for family duty: the gap between the chairs creates a larger pass-through, so third-row passengers can climb in without folding anything, and long cargo like skis can slide down the middle.
The option starts at $1,500 on upper trims with the Black Mountain interior and climbs to several thousand dollars with lighter interior themes; on the base trim it also requires Rivian’s Sound + Vision package. That makes the R1S one of the few big electric SUVs to offer the configuration at all — a gap rivals like the Kia EV9 and Volvo EX90 had been happy to exploit.
Goodbye Dual-Motor, Hello Premium
Rivian is also retiring its motor-count trim names in favor of a simpler three-tier structure borrowed from the upcoming R2. The former Dual-Motor becomes Premium, with 533 horsepower and 610 pound-feet of torque, plus an optional upgrade to 665 horsepower that cuts the 0-60 run to 3.4 seconds. The tri-motor becomes Performance, at 850 horsepower and 1,103 pound-feet, good for 2.9 seconds to 60. The four-motor Quad keeps its name and its 1,025 horsepower, hitting 60 in 2.5 seconds.
Range tops out at 410 miles for the R1S Premium with the Long Range battery and 420 miles for the equivalent R1T, with the standard battery rated at 329 miles. Performance and Quad models land at 371 and 374 miles respectively.
The Price of Progress
The simplification comes with a firmer sticker. The R1T now starts at $79,990 and the R1S at $83,990 before Rivian’s $1,495 delivery fee — an increase of roughly $7,000 to $9,000 over the outgoing 2026 models depending on configuration. A fully loaded R1S Quad crests $123,000 with delivery. Elsewhere in the lineup, a new liquid-metal Esker Silver replaces LA Silver as the standard paint, and the R1T gets a new standard 20-inch wheel design.
What It Means
This update is less about horsepower and more about Rivian growing up as a carmaker. Aligning the R1’s trim names and interior logic with the cheaper R2 — due to reach customers soon and expected to carry the company’s volume ambitions — turns two product lines into one coherent family, which matters when you’re trying to move from cult favorite to mainstream brand. The captain’s chairs fix the R1S’s most glaring family-hauler weakness just as three-row EV competition heats up. The risk is on the window sticker: raising base prices by up to $9,000 in a market where EV demand has wobbled since the federal tax credit ended is a bet that Rivian’s buyers are loyal, affluent, and willing to pay for the details they asked for. If the order books stay healthy, it will look like pricing power. If not, the R2 can’t arrive fast enough.
Giant Fleet 
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