Rivian R1T electric truck
Source: Rivian
The start-up EV Rivian is the first car manufacturer to bring electric pickup to the consumer market, surpassing Tesla, General Motors and others in what is expected to be a hotly contested segment in the coming years.
On Tuesday, Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe tweeted that the company’s first R1T pickup for a customer came off the assembly line this morning at its Normal, Island plant.
“After months of building pre-production vehicles, this morning, our first customer vehicle came out of our production line at Normal! Our team’s collective efforts have made that moment possible,” he said. “I can’t wait to put them in the hands of our customers!”
Photos tweeted by Scaringe show workers cheering with various R1Ts on the assembly line.
A Rivian spokeswoman confirmed that the vehicles produced can be sold. She declined to discuss the company’s plans to increase production, including the number of trucks that were produced today and who will be the first customers to receive the vehicles.
The start of production, which has been delayed several times, comes weeks after the company with the backing of Amazon and Ford Motor filed a draft confidential registration form for a IPO.
Rivian is expected to be the first of a handful of carmakers to produce an electric pickup next year. GM is expected to be next fall with the GMC Hummer EV pickup, potentially followed next year by the launch of EV Lordstown Motors, Ford and then Tesla, which recently pushed back deliveries of their Cybertruck from d ‘this year until the end of 2022.