By CRM staff
Toronto, Ontario – February 19, 2019 –- Rivian, a Michigan-based electric pickup truck manufacturer and a potential Tesla rival announced that Amazon will be leading an investment round of $700 million in its startup.
The announcement was made on Friday and cleared the rumors, for now, that General Motors was also going to be a partner in investing in Rivian.
But besides the potential rumors of GM’s partnership, Rivian is entering the market to essentially be the new Tesla for pickup trucks. The Los Angeles Times has even described the CEO of Rivian RJ Scaringe as “the version of Elon Musk you’d want your daughter to marry.”
CEO of Tesla Elon Musk mentioned to investors last year that he was looking at creating pickup trucks as one of his next models. But Rivian’s goal is to be the first manufacturer to deliver electric pickup trucks to U.S. consumers.
On Rivian’s website, they describe their vehicles as “the world’s first Electric Adventure Vehicles.” The company plans to roll out its R1S sport utility vehicle and R1T pickup truck in 2020. It promises that the vehicles will have up to 400 miles of range and exceptional handling. The vehicles will also be able to sprint from zero to 60 mph in three seconds.
