Somewhere in the California desert, a police officer pulls over a 1964 Chevrolet Malibu as it lurches wildly across the highway. After interrogating the driver, he opens the trunk and is instantly vaporized by a blinding light that reduces him to a skeleton, leaving behind only a pair of smoldering leather boots.

Thus begins Repo Man, a sci-fi cult classic sci-fi with a nihilistic worldview and a punk rock soundtrack that by all accounts probably shouldn’t exist. Thanks to a mix of very good luck and sheer force of will, what started as a student film from writer-director Alex Cox eventually became one of the greatest independent movies of all time.

Four decades after its debut, Inverse spoke to Cox and seven other members of the cast and crew to tell the definitive history of Repo Man.

Rivian, the Tesla competitor focused on creating EVs for outdoor adventures, finally showed off its next electric cars, the $45,000 Rivian R2, and in an Apple-esque surprise, the even smaller Rivian R3 and R3X.

The company’s goal was to introduce a more affordable EV than its pricey R1T and R1S, and at least on paper, it succeeded. The R2 SUV is cheaper than the over $70,000 that an R1S starts at, and it’s theoretically going to be followed by an even smaller and more affordable option.

While the 2026 launch of the R2 is still a ways off, Rivian needed a positive story. The company reported $5.4 billion in net annual losses in 2023 and laid off 10 percent of its staff. Proving you can still design a car that gets people hyped might not turn things around, but it helps.

What really stands out about the smaller Rivian R3 in particular, though, is how the most exciting thing about it has little to do with the typical futuristic framing of EVs. There was really no emphasis put on the R3’s ability to drive itself; it was sold on aesthetics, size, and functionality alone, a pretty good example of the dimming interest in self-driving overall.