Correction 16/12/21: This post has been updated to reflect the most recent pre-order figures
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, senior development officials from the state and representatives from Rivian are expected to announce today at 4 PM the automaker’s plans to build a major manufacturing site in the state, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
The plan would see Rivian build a $5 billion factory east of Atlanta that is expected to require 7,500 workers to operate. Rivian could need as many as 10,000 workers over the coming years to build trucks at the 2,000-acre site.
The plant will rank among Georgia’s largest-ever and will be the state’s first new automotive assembly plant since Kia Motors announced in 2006 that it would build a plant in West Point, near the Alabama border.
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The location of the factory was hotly contested, reports the Associated Press, with Fort Worth, Texas offering Rivian a $440 million incentive package to lure the company during the summer. Reports also suggest that the automaker considered Arizona and Michigan as potential sites.
Amazon, Ford, and T.Rowe Price are among Rivian’s early investors, and the company’s valuation surged past $100 billion days after its initial public offering. Its market cap has been buoyed by Amazon’s order of more than 100,000 electric delivery vans by 2030.
Rivian also says it has more than 71,000 combined pre-orders for its electric pickup truck, the R1T, and the R1S electric SUV. The truck has been called a game-changer by reviewers. Produced at its factory in Normal, Illinois, it features a 135 kWh battery pack that gives it a range of 314 miles (505 km) and its motors can get it to 60 mph (96 km/h) in just 3.5 seconds.
Thanks to innovative features and a race to get electric pickups to market, the R1T is likely to sell very well for Rivian. Along with being critically acclaimed in early tests, it has already won Motor Trend’s Truck of the Year award.
