Rivian returning to Normal for virus
Rivian has decided to return a $1 million grant from Normal, Illinois, originally provided as an incentive to build electric cars in the former Mitsubishi-Chrysler joint-venture plant.
The Normal plant built cars engineered almost entirely by Mitsubishi, and sold under both Chrysler and Mitsubishi labels. Rivian moved in during 2016 and is preparing to make a massive number of vans, cars, and trucks based on the same electric-powertrain undercarriage.
Rivian’s primary customer will be Amazon, which is planning to use standardized delivery trucks from the company; Amazon has invested heavily in the company. So has Ford, which may sell a Rivian design as its own.
Rivian representatives pointed out that the city of Normal needed the money to take care of its residents; Rivian itself is now very well funded. If the President succeeds in his push to dramatically raise Amazon’s rates on United States Postal Service parcel delivery, Amazon may need more than the 100,000 or so vans they’ve already planned on buying.
Clark Westfield grew up fixing up and driving past-their-prime American cars, including various GM 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.