One other huge pattern reshaping the auto business is autonomous vehicles. On Tuesday, Cruise, a unit of G.M. that’s working in that space, introduced it had raised $2 billion from Microsoft, G.M., Honda and different traders. Rivian and Tesla are additionally engaged on automated-driving know-how.
Rivian is completely different from Tesla in a number of respects. Tesla to date has grown by promoting sporty sedans, a kind of car that’s falling out of favor with shoppers. Tesla intends to start making an oddly angular, futuristic pickup, the Cybertruck, this yr. Nevertheless it hasn’t but put heavy deal with the vans and S.U.V.s that make up 75 % of the passenger automobile market in the US.
Rivian, however, is concentrated on producing “journey” automobiles that homeowners can take off street, an method meaning Rivian received’t typically compete face to face with Tesla.
“There’s a notion that that is winner take all, and that’s simply unsuitable,” Mr. Scaringe mentioned. “Customers must have completely different manufacturers, completely different flavors. Our success is by no means mutually unique to others’ success.”
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Rebecca Puck Stair is the form of automobile purchaser Rivian hopes to draw. A film location scout in Albuquerque, she has been occupied with shopping for an electrical automobile for a number of years, however wants excessive floor clearance and four-wheel drive for assignments that take her into the desert.
“That didn’t exist out there,” she mentioned. “A Tesla doesn’t match my wants.”
A few yr in the past, she heard about Rivian for the primary time and put a deposit down on an S.U.V. the subsequent day — like Tesla, the corporate doesn’t plan to promote by sellers. Ms. Stair has seen the Cybertruck, however the design isn’t for her. “It simply screams ‘obnoxious man truck,’” she mentioned, laughing.
Rivian’s truck and S.U.V., which begin at $67,500, look extra typical, as if they may have been designed by Land Rover.