Great Expectations: Rivian Electrifying Ford, Amazon, Cox Auto

Rivian has yet to produce a single truck for retail sale, but it will co-produce a truck with Ford (a $500 million deal), gained $700 million in investments in a deal led by Amazon, and just got $350 million from Cox Automotive, which will help it to market and deliver the trucks when they finally start coming out of Rivian’s plant.

Rivian has been around since 2009, and its factory has been around even longer: it was originally built by Diamond Star Motors, the combination of Mitsubishi and Chrysler. The Normal, Illinois plant saw many Galant-based cars and coupes produced before going to pure-Mitsubishi production, and then being shuttered. Rivian itself seems to have a future, or at least a decent number of deep-pocketed friends.

One can easily see why Ford would be interested; the company is jumping with both feet into an electric future, after years of mainly pretending to be creating its own technologies while relying on suppliers. Amazon is reportedly interested because of its own delivery-fleet needs, while Cox will be assured of having Rivian’s business. The support and attention must be worrisome for Tesla, which is now claiming to have a pickup unveiling in November.

Clark Westfield grew up fixing up and driving past-their-prime American cars, including an F-body Camaro and Mopar V8s. He has ghostwritten auto news for the last few years, lives in Farmingdale, New York, and can be reached at +1.516-531-4021.