Rivian Produces First EV Pickup to Roll Off the Line
Sep 15, 2021 By MarketDepth
Rivian, an electric vehicle start-up, is the first automaker to bring an electric pickup to the consumer market. Ultimately, the company beat Tesla, General Motors and many others in the production. The automakers founder and CEO RJ Scaringe tweeted that the company’s first R1T pickup for a consumer left the assembly line that morning at its Normal, Illinois plant.
“After months of building pre-production vehicles, this morning our first customer vehicle drove off our production line in Normal! Our team’s collective efforts have made this moment possible. Can’t wait to get these into the hands of our customers!”
CEO, RJ Scaringe
Additionally, Scaringe tweeted photos of excited workers with various R1Ts on the assembly line. A spokeswoman for the company confirmed that the vehicles being made are saleable but declined to reveal if Rivian would be increasing production.
First Electric Pickup
RIvian is the first of several automakers to produce an electric pickup and General Motors is expected to follow by this fall with the GMC Hummer EV pickup. Other automakers such as Lordstown Motors, Ford and Tesla are anticipated to join in by next year.
Raised Billions
The company worked in silence for years before revealing its all-electric prototypes of its R1T truck and R1S SUV at the LA Auto Show in 2018. Since then, Rivian has managed to raise billions of dollars, expand its Illinois factory, hire thousands of workers, get Amazon as a commercial customer and file for an IPO.
