Rivian has confirmed that the first R1T electric ute and the first R1S electric SUV have arrived in Australia to be tested in local conditions ahead of sales in the not-too-distant future.
According to The Driven, the highly-anticipated vehicles arrived by plane last Friday for testing purposes.
“We’re committed to testing all our vehicles in climates all over the world, so you may well spot a Rivian,” Rivian confirmed to The Driven.
There’s no word yet on where or in what conditions the vehicles will be tested, but we can only hope to see some testing footage out on farms and construction sites across our great country in the coming weeks and months.
If it lives up to our expectations, an electric ute could be a real game changer for Australians, especially the farmers and tradies who depend on utes for work.
There’s no word on a release date just yet, but Rivian has confirmed that the vehicles will eventually make an Australian debut and that the interest has been “intense.”
“We haven’t announced delivery dates yet for Australia, but we can tell you that interest has been intense, and we can’t wait to meet our Australian customers,” the spokesperson told The Driven.
Both vehicles are set to launch in the U.S. later this month, which will hopefully be a step in the right direction towards America’s target of EVs accounting for 50% of new car sales by 2030.
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The news comes after reports Rivian — which is backed by Amazon — will go public later this year. According to Forbes, the company’s value sits at around $US80 billion, but an official valuation is yet to be announced.
Considering Rivian has been hyped up by the likes of Forbes to be the next big thing in the EV space, following in the footsteps of Elon Musk’s Tesla, it’ll be interesting to see where the company goes in the next few years.