Electric car start-up Rivian could establish a factory in the UK as its first major facility outside of the United States.
Sky News reports that Rivian has been engaging in talks with the British government for a number of weeks about building a factory near Bristol. It is claimed that Germany and the Netherlands have made rival bids for the factory.
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It is understood that the facility would exclusively handle the production of certain Rivian models, rather than their battery packs, but it is still possible the site could handle both. UK prime minister Boris Johnson is said to have been briefed on the discussions and has taken a keen interest in their progress.
Rivian is said to be looking at a 616-acre campus near Bristol as a possible site for the manufacturing plant. This site would join the factory it currently operates in Normal, Illinois and a second U.S. plant that Rivian is looking to establish. It isn’t yet clear if Rivian has requested funding or tax breaks for the UK site but constructing it could require an investment of over £1 billion ($1.38 million).
Word of Rivian’s continued expansion come just a week after the automaker closed its latest financing round, bringing in an additional $2.5 billion, meaning it has now raised $10.5 billion since its inception. Key backers of the automaker include Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Ford Motor Company, BlackRock, Third Point, Fidelity Management and Research Company, and Dragoneer Investment Group.
