Amazon-Backed Rivian Set to Announce Plan for Georgia EV Factory

(Bloomberg) -- Rivian Automotive Inc., the electric truck startup valued at more than $100 billion, is planning to announce that it will build a vehicle-assembly and battery plant in Georgia, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Irvine, California-based automaker, which had also considered competing sites in Texas and Arizona, is expected to reveal the plans at an event Thursday, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the information before it’s public. While Georgia has been selected provisionally, no agreement has yet been signed, some of the people said.

A Rivian representative declined to comment.

The company launched its first model in September, the plug-in R1T pickup. Rivian will roll out an electric SUV, the R1S, from its factory in Normal, Illinois, by year-end. It also has an order to produce 100,000 battery-powered delivery vans for Amazon.com Inc., the EV maker’s largest investor with a 20% stake.

Rivian shares were little changed in postmarket trading in New York.

The startup, which went public Nov. 10, already has a higher market value than General Motors Co. even though it reported production of fewer than 400 vehicles as of Oct. 31 -- “nearly all” of which were delivered to employees. Rivian will report quarterly earnings on Thursday for the first time since going public.

A move to Georgia would be a coup for the Peach State, which has been passed over by multiple Asian and Europe automakers, and has only one vehicle assembly factory, a Kia Motors plant in West Point, near the Alabama border. South Korean battery maker SK Innovation constructed a $2.6 billion factory in Jackson County, Georgia, to make power sources for electric vehicles, including Ford’s F-150 Lightning pickup going on sale next spring.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier reported Rivian’s plans to build a factory in Georgia.

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