Rivian is looking for a location for a European factory, insiders say Bloomberg. At first, Rivian will reportedly produce the Amazon bus on our continent, at a later stage the SUV R1S will most likely follow. Rivian hopes to start production next year.
Where Rivian may settle is not yet known. According to the sources, the start-up is looking for possible locations in partnership with a real estate company, explicitly mentioning England, Germany and Hungary. Rivian does want to build a completely new factory itself, so factories like VDL NedCar do not have to hope for a new client. In the facility yet to be built, the Amazon bus will first go into production, the sources said. Rivian has already received an order for 100,000 copies from the internet giant, but in Europe Amazon is currently doing business with Mercedes-Benz. Obviously, Rivian wants to get rid of that agreement as soon as possible.
Presumably it will not just stay with the Amazon bus. After European production has started, ‘Rivian’s models for the consumer’ should also be screwed together, the sources claim. That claim seems plausible, as RJ Scaringe, the founder and CEO of Rivian, has previously said he wants to bring the full-size SUV R1S to Europe. The R1T, an electric pick-up, doesn’t seem to be making the crossing. In addition, smaller models should also be marketed in the future, but it is not yet known what form these unknown models will take. Rivian declined to comment on the sources’ claims.