The idea of an electrified ute is hardly new, but only when start-up Rivian unveiled its quad-motor 14,000Nm R1T in late 2018 at the LA Auto Show did the world prick its ears up and take notice.
It's been over a year since Rivian showed off its first R1T concepts, and now things are getting serious with customer deliveries scheduled for before the end of the year (the R1S SUV variant will follow shortly afterwards). But what's long eluded everyone is specific details on pricing.
While pricing in full hasn't been confirmed in full just yet, Rivian founder R.J. Scaringe did recently make an admission to Reuters.
Scaringe told the publication that the R1T truck would cost less than originally announced. When it was unveiled a US$61,500 price-tag was attached. Scaringe wouldn't comment on how far that entry-level price would slide, but he did cite that a well equipped mid-range R1T variant of the rapid electric ute will cost 'about US$69,000'.
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He said that reaction to the ute and SUV ensemble had been “really positive.”
“So we’re excited by that,” he added. “But we now have the challenge of a lot of pre-order customers aren’t going to get the cars as fast as they like because there’s such a long queue”.
Rivian hasn't confirmed where entry-level pricing will actually sit, nor has it confirmed just how many refundable deposits have been received. But, it will nevertheless make for interesting reading to compare the final pricepoints of the RT1 against its electric pick-up rival; the Tesla Cybertruck.
Launched almost exactly a year after the Rivian RT1, the Cybertruck shares a handful of similarities.
The RT1's claimed 370–640km range falls neatly between the dual-motor and tri-motor Cybertruck's respective 321–805km. Both will hit 100km/h in three seconds or slightly less in top motor trims. Both are crammed with gimmicks. And now it seems like there's more pricing overlap than we expected.