Rivian Australia launch at least two years away

Australians may have to wait until at least 2024 to get behind the wheel of a Rivian electric ute or SUV.

The American EV start-up that already has buyers queuing to own the new R1T ute and R1S SUV has revealed crucial details about its global expansion in its latest filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – and it appears Australians will be waiting longer than expected.

The document was filed on November 1 as part of the planned initial public offering (IPO) to list the company on the New York Stock Exchange with a valuation now revised to about $US50-55 billion.

It goes into detail about Rivian’s “long-term growth strategy” that includes plans to “pursue international expansion” for its off-road focused electric vehicles that have already built a cult following around the world.

The Rivian R1T and R1S incorporate four electric motors and a battery pack capacity of up to 180kWh that can provide 650km of range.

That expansion includes “entry into major Asian-Pacific markets”, one of which would presumably be Australia given the scale of the off-road vehicle market here and the local demand for utes, which currently comprise around one in five new-vehicle sales.

Rivian has previously confirmed to carsales that it plans to enter the Australian market in due course.

However, don’t go selling your Toyota HiLux or Ford Ranger just yet. In the same SEC filing Rivian put some indicative timing behind its expansion plans outside of the US.

“We intend to enter Western European markets in the near-term, followed by entry into major Asian-Pacific markets,” the company said, before adding detail about when it would enter the European market.

“The R1T and R1S are currently undergoing product homologation for Canada and we expect to enter the Western European market in 2023 with R1 platform variants.”

That means it’s unlikely Rivian will be officially launched in Australia or New Zealand before 2024.

There’s also the growing issue of satisfying huge demand for the R1T and R1S.

Rivian revealed that to the end of October it has taken 55,400 orders for both the R1T electric pick-up, which entered production in September, and the three-row R1S large electric SUV, production of which is due to begin next month.

“Based on our current production forecast, we expect to fill our pre-order backlog of approximately 55,400 by the end of 2023,” Rivian said in the SEC filing.

Supply is complicated by the imminent production ramp-up of the Rivian EDV, or Electric Delivery Van, which will also be manufactured in right-hand drive.

Rivian is planning to supply major shareholder Amazon with 100,000 EDVs by 2025.

So while the sole Rivian factory in Illinois can currently produce up to 150,000 annually – with plans to expand production capacity to 200,000 – it will take time to scale up and the EDV could take a chunk of that production capacity.

However, Rivian also looks set to expand production beyond its home base of America, starting with Europe.

“We intend to export vehicles to Europe, and over time may consider manufacturing and locating substantial additional operations in Europe,” Rivian said in the SEC filing.

There’s also the potential for assembly elsewhere, with Rivian confirming “we plan to localise production and supply chains in these regions”, specifically referring to Europe and Asia-Pacific.

So the short story is don’t expect much official Rivian action here in the next couple of years, even though the company the company has already tested its vehicles here and appears to have Australia high on its expansion hit list.

But the good news is Rivian’s expansion into Europe first means the R1T and R1S will soon receive most of the regulatory approvals required for sale here, where Australian Design Rules are closely aligned with the European vehicle homologation laws.