Rivian R1S Leases Are Getting Dangerously Cheap
A surprise deal from Rivian drops the monthly lease payment below $600 on its excellent electric SUV—but there are still a few catches. The post Rivian R1S Leases Are Getting Dangerously Cheap appeared first on The Drive.
The 2025 Rivian R1S electric SUV is leasing for an unusually cheap $599 monthly if you have good credit and can sign before March 15. The main asterisk is that you also need to cough up $8,494 up front, but the mileage limit is decent (10,000 a year) for three years. If you can swing the ante, it’s not a bad deal.
The price is cheap enough to call out because, as CarsDirect noted, an R1S lease is usually considerably more—last month, it was $799 monthly with $8,694 due as signing. Find it (and all the fine print) on Rivian’s site right now.
Rivian revised its SUV for 2025, improving its ride quality while retaining the styling and general performance that have been received so well since the model’s introduction. In my opinion, having driven all variants of the R1 family, the slightly longer-wheelbase R1T pickup is still the best-driving of the duo. But the SUV’s increased passenger capacity and enclosed cargo bay make it particularly appealing for families.
I dropped Rivian’s comms team a note asking if there was any specific reason for this price cut, and I’ll update our post here if they share anything interesting. I would guess that Rivian is just trying to shift the last of any 2025 model-year SUVs to make room for incoming ’26s.
The deal’s only available in 39 states (AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, LA, MA, MD, MI, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WV) and if you’re going to register it in Alaska, you’ll have to buy it elsewhere, because Rivian says it’s not delivering up there yet.
Lessees have until March 15 to sign up and claim their R1S before the end of the month. Other fine print includes a $495 disposition fee and a $0.30-per-mile fee if you bring it back with more than the allotment. And of course, the deal is only going to apply to certain models. One example deal that Rivian laid out on its site is for a new 2025 R1S Dual Standard with a $75,900 MSRP.
The prevailing wisdom on Reddit and other circles of anonymous advice seems to be to avoid making down-payments on leases whenever possible. But this is a highline SUV—you gotta pay to play.
All told, you’d be spending a little over $30,000 for three years of driving a new dual-motor R1S and putting up to 30,000 miles on it. Does that beat depreciation for buying a new one? Based on cursory research of what 2022 model-year R1Ss are listing for, it looks like no, not really. But the lease carries the potential benefit of a $7,500 tax break for those with qualifying incomes, and, of course, a brand-new EV. Plus there’s the “will this be obsolete in three years” risk involved with outright buying an EV that not everyone wants to take on, which of course, lease lets you get around.
Seen any more intriguing lease deals lately? Drop the author a line at andrew.collins@thedrive.com
The post Rivian R1S Leases Are Getting Dangerously Cheap appeared first on The Drive.
