To the shock of nobody who’s been following the auto industry developments lately, Rivian has announced it will be “pausing” its plans to build a large manufacturing facility in Georgia. This comes as demand for all-electric vehicles like Rivian’s truck and SUV has plummeted.
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The planned factory was to cost $5 billion, a bold move for the all-electric automaker which has faced a number of financial setbacks recently. Rivian has been forced to trim back much of its operations to stay afloat, including announcing a significant workforce reduction last month.
News of this “pause” in Rivian’s plan has been reported by Forbes and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. While some are blaming Rivian’s struggles on more competition in the EV market, it’s also true that many shoppers who were interested in an electric car have bought one, leaving significantly diminished demand.
Combine that with the pinch of inflation, plus many Americans increasingly fearing their job might not exist in the near future, and that leaves not only Rivian but most EV brands in a desperate situation.
Legacy automakers like Ford and GM, which were all-in on the EV “revolution” before, are now trimming back future plans while announcing increased efforts for releasing plug-in hybrids. Such a move doesn’t appear to be on the table for Rivian, a brand which has decried the use of internal combustion engines, so it must ride the storm as the future of EVs seems uncertain for now.
With the massive Georgia facilities on hold for an unspecified time, Rivian said in an SEC filing that vehicles which were going to be assembled there, specifically the R2 and R3, will instead roll out of the existing Illinois plant. That doesn’t bode well for how the company views future production volume since before the Georgia plant was supposedly necessary to keep up with exploding demand.
Image via Rivian
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