ATLANTA — Executives for Rivian say they are committed to building a $5 billion manufacturing plant in Georgia.
On Friday, Channel 2′s Richard Elliot got an exclusive first look at the three Rivian vehicles that the electric vehicle manufacturer says will be built here in Georgia.
That’s the R-2, the R-3 and the R-3x.
Elliot met executives from Rivian at the 2000-acre site to talk about their commitment to Georgia, a month after they announced they were pausing their construction plans here in Georgia, an announcement that made a lot of Georgia lawmakers nervous.
Tony Sanger, Rivian’s Vice President of Production Facilities, told Elliot they needn’t be.
“We committed to the governor, to the state of Georgia, and the citizens of Georgia that we are coming back, and we’ll be building these R-2′s and R-3′s here in Georgia,” Sanger said.
Gov. Brian Kemp and other local officials from three counties extended a lot of political capital to get Rivian $1.5 billion in tax incentives to build on a mega-site 60 miles east of Atlanta.
Just last month, Kemp said Rivian told him that despite the pause, they remain committed to the Peach State.
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“Everything, they’re telling us, they’re still committed. They can still meet the metrics that they have under our contractual obligations by 2030,” Kemp said.
Rivian announced a $5 billion loss last year and with a general slowdown in EV sales, it decided to pause construction at the Georgia plant and to focus on building its R-2′s in its Normal, Illinois plant.
Channel 2 Action News got an exclusive tour of that plant two years ago.
That plan, Rivian says, could save more than $2 billion and it insists once they get the R-2′s up and running and on showroom floors, they’ll start construction here again.
If they can’t, they’ll have to pay Georgia back. But Sanger said don’t worry.
“We know we have deadlines here with the state of Georgia. We’re going to honor those deadlines with the state of Georgia, and we’ll be back in plenty of time to meet those deadlines,” Sanger said.
Sanger said those R-2s are designed for the mass market with a lower price point, so they’re hoping sales will pick up.
When they do, he said, you may see 7,500 Rivian employees at the new Georgia plant.
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