Rivian bought an abandoned plant from Mitsubishi Motors North America in Normal, Illinois. The plant was about three weeks from destruction. Now the community around this city is full of hope on innovative electric-vehicle makers to return them to automaking glory since Mitsubishi left in 2015.
The 2.4 million to 2.6-million-square-foot facility, was bought for $16 million by Rivian, thanks to the recent investments in the automaker startup from Ford, Amazon and Cox Automotive. Before all these investments, Rivian was not so sure they would succeed.
The startup plans to start production in the fourth quarter of 2020. About 200 people work there now, but estimates are at least 1,000 at full production. That number, however, may rise due to delivery van production for Amazon.