Rivian is starting to slowly ramp up production of the R1T electric pickup truck and confirmed it will deliver approximately 1,000 units before the end of the year.
The very first customer-bound example of the R1T rolled off the assembly line in Normal, Illinois on September 14 and the automotive startup says that through the end of October, it had produced 180 R1Ts and delivered 156 of them. Nearly all of these vehicles were delivered to Rivian employees.
Production of the R1T continues to increase and before year’s end, Rivian expects to have built approximately 1,200 R1Ts and delivered 1,000 of them. In addition, production of the R1S SUV will start in December with 25 bound for the production line and 15 expected to be delivered to customers this year. Rivian will also commence production of its electric Amazon delivery van this year, building and delivering 10 units.
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Rivian has also confirmed that it will take until the end of 2023 to work its way through its preorder backlog. As it stands, the company has taken 55,400 preorders for the R1T and R1S in the United States and Canada. This is a 14.5 per cent increase from the 48,390 preorders that it had as of September 30.
The automaker added that it expects to be producing 150,000 vehicles annually at its Normal factory by early 2024. Expansions to the plant will make it capable of building 200,000 vehicles by 2023.
“We believe that we will be able to increase the annual production capacity of the Normal Factory up to 200,000 vehicles by 2023 as we introduce additional R1 platform variants and expand the facility,” the automaker said in an SEC filing. “Over the next couple of years, we expect to establish additional domestic production capacity in order to support our product development roadmap and fulfill future anticipated demand.”
