Rivian, an electric-vehicle startup backed by Amazon and Ford Motor Co, announced on Wednesday its intention to produce smaller electric vehicles in an effort to target EV markets across Europe and China, where it may begin manufacturing efforts sometime in the future.
This comes after the company released two new products, namely a full-size pickup and an SUV. While Rivian is aiming to release the SUV in European markets by 2022 with China following soon after, the company believes that it will be their subsequent products that will significantly drive demand. This is because the smaller EVs will be specifically tailored to meet the needs of the Chinese and European markets.
Rivian has already started its pilot production of three models—due to be launched next year—in its manufacturing facilities in Normal, Illinois. These products are the R1T pickup, the R1S SUV, and a large delivery van that will be used by eCommerce giant Amazon.
In July, Rivian received a boost in financial capacity thanks to a $2.5 billion injection of capital courtesy of an investment round led by T. Rowe Price. This boosted the total capital investment in the startup to $6 billion.
