Bloomington-Normal Community Cheers Amazon's Big Rivian Order (house, purchase)

[OyCrumbler]

Here's the article: B-N Community Cheers Amazon's Big Rivian Order

EV startup Rivian, who has also taken a $700 million dollar investment led by Amazon will be making 100,000 delivery vehicles for the online retail giant. These vans for Amazon and any other orders that tag along will be made in a former Mitsubishi plant in Normal that was shuttered a while back.

[SonySegaTendo617]

I kept wondering what the status of that Rivian plant that used to house Mitsubishi, was currently at myself. Thanks for posting this article, and good to see they are making some vehicles there! Unlike what I worried, where for a while I worried they weren't making a lot of cars there at all.

[Maintainschaos]

Good for them. A potentially nice boon for central Illinois.

[reneeh63]

I'd heard maybe a few months ago that they'd missed one of their tax break milestones so I hope this means they're on track now.

[Vlajos]

This company may be the real thing. Nice win for Bloomington Normal.

[Curly Q. Bobalink]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

This company may be the real thing. Nice win for Bloomington Normal.

It definitely gives them credibility that both Ford and Amazon have invested so many dollars in the company, but I sure would like to see something of theirs on the road - their prototypes look promising, but their website sure is scant of information. Where are they in the product design cycle, when will they start manufacturing, and when will the public be able to purchase vehicles from them?

Rivian thus far reminds me of the (paraphrased) First National Bank Commercial: "But Mr. Kaflootsky, we've been working our fingers to the bone on your application since 1989!"

[OyCrumbler]

There needs to be dozens of Rivians for Illinois and hopefully some headquartered within the state, but this is a great overall.

[dtcbnd03]

This is great news for Illinois...but this is also simply headline grabbing news...like when Amazon said drones would deliver packages.

- Rivian doesn't have a single vehicle on the road...let alone a delivery vehicle.

- Rivian has been developing their pickup truck for years...it looks / sounds awesome but it still isn't in production yet.

- Amazon delivery scheduled for 2021...Rivian can't design, test and produce a delivery truck that quickly...my guess is 2025 is a more realistic delivery date. Look at how long it takes Tesla to roll out new models including their electric semi.

- Amazon is a huge distribution company focused on quick deliveries. They wouldn't place a "real" large order like this with a small startup that hasn't produced anything. There's tons of easy cancellation language in the contract and when Amazon does place a "real" order it will be with a car company with established production and track record. Amazon get's good PR for saying it's going green while ordering from a company it knows will not deliver in time.

I hope Rivian succeeds. And headline grabbers like this are great PR. But in the next couple years Rivian will have produced only a pickup truck...and hopefully that's a success!

[OyCrumbler]

In Neighborly Nod, Rivian To Decline $1 Million Grant From Town
https://www.wglt.org/post/neighborly...-town#stream/0

As part of trying to attract Rivian to manufacture in the city, Normal’s municipal government offered targeted incentives worth up to $1 million dollars if Rivian met certain criteria. Due to the massive amount of private capital Rivian has raised as well as wanting to make a nice gesture to their host city during a time of falling public revenue due to the pandemic, Rivian has declined to take the $1 million dollars worth of incentives from Normal.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by dtcbnd03

This is great news for Illinois...but this is also simply headline grabbing news...like when Amazon said drones would deliver packages.

- Rivian doesn't have a single vehicle on the road...let alone a delivery vehicle.

- Rivian has been developing their pickup truck for years...it looks / sounds awesome but it still isn't in production yet.

- Amazon delivery scheduled for 2021...Rivian can't design, test and produce a delivery truck that quickly...my guess is 2025 is a more realistic delivery date. Look at how long it takes Tesla to roll out new models including their electric semi.

- Amazon is a huge distribution company focused on quick deliveries. They wouldn't place a "real" large order like this with a small startup that hasn't produced anything. There's tons of easy cancellation language in the contract and when Amazon does place a "real" order it will be with a car company with established production and track record. Amazon get's good PR for saying it's going green while ordering from a company it knows will not deliver in time.

I hope Rivian succeeds. And headline grabbers like this are great PR. But in the next couple years Rivian will have produced only a pickup truck...and hopefully that's a success!

The Amazon order is for delivery vans and not semis. They’ve shown off some prototypes and the size makes it seem like it’d be a pretty easy adaptation from the skateboard platform that their pickup truck and SUVs are using. Along with placing an order, Amazon also led a $700 million funding round for Rivian.