Mexican Media Brands
GM, Amazon May Buy Stakes in Rivian EV Startup
General Motors and Amazon may invest in Rivian Automotive LLC, the Michigan-based startup that hopes to launch an all-electric pickup truck in 2020, sources tell Reuters.
#hybrid
Share
General Motors and Amazon are pondering investments in Rivian Automotive LLC, the Michigan-based startup that hopes to launch an all-electric pickup truck by the end of 2020, sources tell Reuters.
The GM-Amazon investments would value Rivian at $1 billion-$2 billion. Reuters’ sources say the deal could be announced later this month, if all goes well.
Rivian aims to launch the $69,000 R1T pickup (pictured) next year, followed by an SUV/crossover variant. The company is preparing the former Mitsubishi Motors Corp. factory in Normal, Ill., to build both models.
The vehicles will sit atop a “skateboard” platform that contains the battery, traction motors, suspension and power control system. GM unveiled a similar concept, called AUTOnomy and designed to use fuel cells rather than a battery, in 2002.
Rivian’s existing investors are led by Saudi vehicle distributor Abdul Latif Jameel ($500 million), Standard Chartered Banks ($200 million) and Sumitomo Corp. (undisclosed investment).
RELATED CONTENT
-
Electric Trucks Emerging
Rudolph Diesel—who, incidentally, died mysteriously while traveling by a post office steamer on the English Channel in 1913—must be rolling in his grave.
-
Chevy Develops eCOPO Camaro: The Fast and the Electric
The notion that electric vehicles were the sort of thing that well-meaning professors who wear tweed jackets with elbow patches drove in order to help save the environment was pretty much annihilated when Tesla added the Ludicrous+ mode to the Model S which propelled the vehicle from 0 to 60 mph in less than 3 seconds.
-
Tesla Owners in Germany Ordered to Return Subsidy
Germany has ordered about 800 Tesla Model S electric cars owners to pay back a €4,000 ($4,700) government subsidy they received.