Rivian Automotive Inc. beat the Detroit Three to market with its all-electric pickup truck the R1T, which started rolling off the assembly line Tuesday, according to CEO RJ Scaringe's Twitter feed.
"After months of building pre-production vehicles, this morning our first customer vehicle drove off our production line in Normal," Scaringe tweeted. "Our team's collective efforts have made this moment possible. Can't wait to get these into the hands of our customers!"
Scaringe included photos showing the truck rolling off the line at Rivian's plant in Normal, Illinois. A Rivian spokesperson declined to comment beyond the tweet.
Rivian is among several automakers — legacy and startup — hitting the market with electric pickups, but the others haven't yet started commercially producing.
General Motors Co. plans to start production of its GMC Hummer EV truck out of its Factory Zero Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center later this year. Ford Motor Co. plans to start production in spring 2022 on the electric F-150 Lightning. Meanwhile, Stellantis NV, maker of Jeeps and Ram trucks, isn't planning an electric Ram until 2024.
Tesla Inc. also has its electric Cybertruck that has reportedly been delayed until late 2022 after its 2019 reveal.
Startup Lordstown Motors Corp. says it will have limited production starting by the fourth quarter of this year on its electric Endurance truck out of a former GM plant in northeast Ohio. Production of commercial deliveries isn't expected until the second quarter of 2022, according to the company's second-quarter earnings presentation.
Ford and Amazon-backed Rivian started its production after delays caused in part by the current global semiconductor shortage affecting all automakers.
Last month, the startup filed for an initial public offering, seeking a roughly $80 billion valuation, Bloomberg reported.
