Rivian R1T EV super truck gets a price cut before it’s even on sale
Tesla-rival Rivian is going after market share by pricing its own all-electric pick-up truck even more aggressively, announcing a new Explore version of its R1T to hit the market at just $US67,500 ($93,378).
Bargain shoppers will have to wait, however, with the more expensive Launch Edition of the R1T to arrive first – as the name would suggest – from June 2021, priced at $US75,000.
You can’t blame the company for cashing in on excited early adopters, of course, and the more budget conscious will then have to wait until around January, 2022, for the significantly cheaper Explore version. Impressively, that $67,500 is even cheaper than Rivian had predicted, with the company earlier pointing to a $US69,000 base price.
The bad news for us is that it pushes the local launch date for Rivian back as far as the end of 2022, or even early 2023. The company has previously stated that its Australian launch will occur about 18 months after the US takes off.
But the good news it, it’s definitely coming Down Under.
“Yes we will have an Australian launch. And I can’t wait to come back to Australia and show this to all of those beautiful people,” the brand’s chief engineer, Brian Gase, has said.
Rivian is also talking up its products in a big way, saying its surprisingly attractive truck can do anything another vehicle can do, “and then some.”
“We have really focused on the off-road capability of these vehicles. We have 14-inches of dynamic ground clearance, we have a structural underbody, we have all-time all-wheel drive so we can go up 45-degree inlines, and we can accelerate from zero to 60mph (96km/h) in 3.0 seconds,” Gase said.
“I can tow 10,000 pounds (4.5 tonnes). I’ve got a tent that I can throw onto the back of the truck, I’ve got 400 miles (643km) of range, I’ve got all-time all-wheel drive so I can do anything another vehicle can do, and then some.”
The cheaper Explore model will get Rivian’s quad-motor drivetrain, with one for each wheel, and a range of 482km.
Power should be around 300kW and 560Nm – enough togged you to 100km/h in around five seconds. The more expensive models are obviously a lot faster – super-truck fast in fact – but they are boasting figures of 522kW and 1120Nm.
As well as the EV truck, Rivian will offer an R1S SUV range, which is more expensive, with an Explore variant at $US70,000 ($96,808), and a higher-spec Adventure or Launch Edition at $US77,500 ($107,181).
