Buyers Waiting on a Rivian Will Have to Wait a Little Longer

Rivian, the future builder of powerful electric pickups and SUVs (and secret parent to an upcoming Lincoln), hoped to have the first of its production models in buyers’ hands before the end of the year. Both the R1T pickup and R1S SUV were on track to roll out of the fledgling automaker’s Normal, Illinois assembly plant in the second half of 2020, reaching consumers just before New Year’s Eve (R1T) and not long after (R1S).

Well, that schedule’s seen a bit of tweaking. Care to hazard a guess why?

In an email to the Chicago Tribune this week, Rivian spokesperson Amy Mast said the launch of both vehicles has been pushed back to 2021 on account of the coronavirus pandemic. Retooling work at the former Mitsubishi plant ceased last month as state after state issued stay-at-home orders, effectively shuttering non-essential businesses and work sites.

“There are 11 Rivian employees there in 2.6 million square feet,” Mast said, adding that, while the plant’s 300 workers have long been sent home, some 60 electrical contractors remain on site, keeping their distance from each other.

Rivian’s two debut products ride atop an in-house “skateboard” electric vehicle platform — a piece of architecture so promising, Ford had to have a part of it. Both the R1T and R1S will eventually be offered with a choice of three battery packs (105, 135, and 180 kWh), up to 750 horsepower (drawn from four electric motors), and a towing capacity of up to 11,000 pounds. Range offered by the loftiest variants will top 400 miles, the automaker claims.

Rivian has been accepting $1,000 deposits from would-be owners for months. Everything seemed to be in place for the automaker to deliver on its heady promises, but then COVID-19 reared its ugly head.

Once production eventually get underway, the company’s electric pickup will soon find no shortage of competitors, as a field of rivals awaits. Among them, General Motors’s upcoming GMC Hummer EV and Tesla’s Cybertruck. Like Rivian, those automakers are similarly idled, waiting, as everyone is, to see when it’s safe to turn the lights back on.

[Image: Rivian]