The company, Rivian, has garnered considerable interest among Car Nuts for the past year or so. They are a Michigan company with some very smart people and very smart investors, and they are planning to introduce an all-electric pickup truck and a sister SUV in the latter half of 2020. It has a lot of neat stuff, some pretty good specs, it looks like a truck (albeit a 4-door truck with a short, 5' bed), and the thinking is that for some users, it might be an attractive to a full-sized pickup, although exactly where it fits in the market is uncertain. At $70k to start, it is priced like a loaded half ton, but are those folks looking to go electric? Maybe.
Then last week Elon Musk unveils his Tesla pickup truck, projected to hit the market in 2022. Well...
It looks like a door-stop, which turned many people off immediately. What is not clear from photos is that it is a very large doorstop, both length-wise, width-wise and in height. So it fits six adults easily and its 5 foot bed is on par with the Ram's, F150's, Silverado's and so on. [The Quad that is driven into the bed in the Musk video is itself a technological wonder, worthy of its own "Hollywood" premier].
When you look more closely at the Tesla truck, it starts to look more and more like a stake in the heart of...Rivian. First of all, it's FORTY PERCENT CHEAPER ($40k vs. $70k), and its specs are superior in every way. Longer range, greater payload, greater towing capacity, and performance that is at least as good, depending on trim level. Rivian is already behind the 8-ball on charging stations, in spite of what they've done to make it easy and quick. Further, the Tesla is made of space-age STAINLESS STEEL, and is impervious to rust, scratches and dings, and never needs painting. In fact the skin is so strong that the Musk demo showed it being pounded futilely with a sledge hammer, albeit a sledge hammer with a rubber head. Still, not a mark of any kind after the pounding. This skin material is stronger than anything this side of an APC.
The reason why it looks like a doorstop is that the metal is so strong that IT CAN'T BE STAMPED like ordinary steel or aluminum panels. It can be bent, but cannot be formed by stamping. It is simply too hard.
As currently projected, the Rivian will probably beat Tesla to the marketplace, but honestly, how could any knowledgeable buyer make that choice? For seventy-large, you could buy an up-spec Tesla that makes the Rivian look third rate, at best.
The only good thing in this scenario is that both of these are American companies. I commend Rivian's effort, but I think they are doomed from the start.
Then last week Elon Musk unveils his Tesla pickup truck, projected to hit the market in 2022. Well...
It looks like a door-stop, which turned many people off immediately. What is not clear from photos is that it is a very large doorstop, both length-wise, width-wise and in height. So it fits six adults easily and its 5 foot bed is on par with the Ram's, F150's, Silverado's and so on. [The Quad that is driven into the bed in the Musk video is itself a technological wonder, worthy of its own "Hollywood" premier].
When you look more closely at the Tesla truck, it starts to look more and more like a stake in the heart of...Rivian. First of all, it's FORTY PERCENT CHEAPER ($40k vs. $70k), and its specs are superior in every way. Longer range, greater payload, greater towing capacity, and performance that is at least as good, depending on trim level. Rivian is already behind the 8-ball on charging stations, in spite of what they've done to make it easy and quick. Further, the Tesla is made of space-age STAINLESS STEEL, and is impervious to rust, scratches and dings, and never needs painting. In fact the skin is so strong that the Musk demo showed it being pounded futilely with a sledge hammer, albeit a sledge hammer with a rubber head. Still, not a mark of any kind after the pounding. This skin material is stronger than anything this side of an APC.
The reason why it looks like a doorstop is that the metal is so strong that IT CAN'T BE STAMPED like ordinary steel or aluminum panels. It can be bent, but cannot be formed by stamping. It is simply too hard.
As currently projected, the Rivian will probably beat Tesla to the marketplace, but honestly, how could any knowledgeable buyer make that choice? For seventy-large, you could buy an up-spec Tesla that makes the Rivian look third rate, at best.
The only good thing in this scenario is that both of these are American companies. I commend Rivian's effort, but I think they are doomed from the start.
