Rivian, the electric vehicle startup with backing from Ford Motors and Amazon, will miss a major delivery target. Deliveries of the company’s R1T battery-powered pickup truck and R1S SUV won’t be filled in July, as previously promised.
R.J. Scaringe, Rivian’s CEO, made the announcement in a letter to customers who had ordered the truck. In the letter, Scaringe wrote the R1T would be available in September, with the R1S available “shortly thereafter in the fall.”
The latest announcement is the second delay in deliveries. In May 2021, Rivian said the vehicles would be available in June before pushing the delivery date back a month. In the letter to customers, Scaringe said the pandemic has had “a compounding effect greater than anyone anticipated,” and noted that factory construction and component supply are among the company’s pain points.
“Beyond these unforeseen challenges, launching three new vehicles while setting up a multi-vehicle manufacturing plant is a complex orchestra of coordinated and interlinked activities where small issues can translate into ramp delays,” wrote Scaringe.
The Irving, California-based company’s first manufacturing site in Normal, Illinois, has two production lines, one for the consumer vehicles and a second for the commercial vans it is selling to Amazon. Despite the delay, CEO Scaringe says the factory has already produced “hundreds” of viable vehicles.
