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Rivian Has Big Plans To Use Amazon’s Money
Rivian Has Big Plans To Use Amazon’s Money
- by Sean Murray
- – on Apr 22, 2019
Rivian has big plans for Amazon’s money, according to its CEO.
Last November, Rivian amazed us with their upcoming electric pickup and SUV combo. The R1T and the R1S feature a ton of horsepower, all-wheel-drive, amazing towing and payload capacity (not to mention an abundance of storage space), and an astounding 400-mile all-electric range.
But Rivian doesn’t want to stop at just two models. They want to have 6 vehicles available by the year 2025, and they’ve got some powerful financial backing to make it happen.
Earlier in February, we learned that both Amazon and GM were courting Rivian to enter into a business partnership. According to a recent Bloomberg report, Amazon invested $700 million to help Rivian’s plans, while GM pulled out of talks earlier this month.
In an interview at the New York Auto Show, Rivian CEO R. J. Scaringe revealed that GM was being a little too grabby for his tastes. GM wanted to sign into an exclusive partnership deal that would have prevented Rivian from selling their electric skateboard architecture to other companies. Scaringe doesn’t like to be tied down, so he declined GM’s offer.
“In general, my reason for starting Rivian was to do big things without anything preventing us from doing that,” he said
On top of that, Scaringe also revealed Rivian’s plans up to 2025. Six new vehicles are in the pipeline, and they’re all pickup trucks or SUVs. Scaringe said he wanted to focus on the more popular body styles not just because they’re a hot commodity in the automotive market, but also because they’re the most fuel inefficient vehicles on the road.
Switching pickups and SUVs to electric would have a larger effect on the environment, and we get the distinct impression that Scaringe is an environmentalist at heart.
We do have one question though: Scaringe previously said that Rivian’s next vehicle would be an all-electric rally car. If they’re not going to make any cars, then maybe it’ll turn out to be a rally crossover? We’re holding you to it, Rivian. You better not disappoint.
