Only a handful of Rivian R1T pickups have yet been delivered to customers but the all-electric truck landed a significant endorsement Monday, MotorTrend magazine naming it Truck of the Year.
Rivian CEO R.J. Scaringe drove the first Rivian Blue R1T off the production line in September. Now it’s MotorTrend’s Truck of the Year.
The announcement comes barely a month after the influential publication honored the all-electric Lucid Air sedan as Motor Trend Car of the Year.
Taken together, the two choices are particularly noteworthy, underscoring not only the rapid shift from internal combustion engines to battery power but also the arrival of new competitors like Rivian, Lucid — and, of course, Tesla — that are prying open the doors of a long-closed automotive industry.
“It’s definitely not business as usual,” said Sam Abuelsamid, principal auto analyst with Guidehouse Insights. “There’s going to be a lot of disruption” to an industry that, by some estimates, will invest north of $500 billion to electrify during the coming decade.
The new kid on the block
Rivian is widely seen as one of the best positioned among the many startups looking to crack into the automotive market. It has garnered billions of dollars in investments from the likes of Ford Motors Co. and Amazon, the latter ordering 100,000 Rivian electric delivery vans for its Prime service. The R1T marks its entrance into the retail market.
Using a unique, skateboard-like platform, the Rivian truck shakes up traditional pickup design. Among other things, it offers a “frunk” where gas-powered models have their engines. And another large storage area is tucked in below the bed, ahead of the rear wheels.
EVs offer innovative ideas that simply cannot be matched by their gas-powered counterparts.
The R1T will be offered in a variety of different configurations, including battery packs running up to around 180 kilowatt-hours. In what is becoming the norm in the battery-electric vehicle market, however, the 2022 Rivian R1T debuts with a single, $73,000 Launch Edition that comes fairly well loaded with features, from sophisticated wood and “leather” interior trim to a Level 2 driving assistance system.
“The all-electric Rivian R1T is the most remarkable pickup truck we’ve ever driven,” MotorTrend proclaimed as it announced the Truck of the Year award.
“The Rivian R1T is a monumental achievement and astonishes with a quality of design, engineering, materials, and technology unmatched in trucks today, while providing a driving experience like that of a high-performance luxury car,” gushed Editor Ed Loh. As the first all-electric pickup truck to market, the R1T manages to achieve all of this without offending historic truck-buyer sensibilities.”
Not just Rivian
MotorTrend editors were similarly effusive when honoring the Lucid Air last month. The all-electric sedan has won widespread praise for its record-setting range and performance. One version manages more than 500 miles per charge, another punches out 1,133 horsepower and can launch from 0 to 60 in barely 2 seconds.
It’s not just Rivian as the Lucid air captured MotorTrend’s Car of the Year award last month.
The widely followed magazine isn’t alone in calling attention to Lucid Air and Rivian R1T. The two vehicles are finalists for North American Car and Truck of the Year, two of the three awards handed out annually by a panel of 50 U.S. and Canadian journalists. A third battery-electric vehicle, the Hyundai Ioniq 5, is one of three finalists for North American Utility Vehicle of the Year.
This isn’t the first time BEVs have challenged the established order. Ford’s Mustang Mach-E was named the top utility by both MotorTrend and NACTOY last year. Tesla has also fared well on the awards circuit.
But the number of electric models in contention this year is significant and reflects all the changes approaching the auto industry like a tsunami. There were just over a dozen long-range BEVs on the market as of the end of the 2021 model year. By December 2022, TheDetroitBureau.com recently reported, there will be more than 50. In short, Tesla’s getting some reinforcements when it comes tot challenging the legacy brands. Along with Rivian and Lucid, nascent EV makers such as Fisker, Atlas, Byton, Canoo and Faraday Future are taking shots — some well funded by investors and SPAC deals.
The established order could very well be shaken up, said Stephanie Brinley, principal analyst with IHS Markit, adding, “There’s still a huge hurdle to climb before they can challenge the broader industry. The traditional (automakers) have a lot of products coming in the EV space.”
General Motors, for one, plans to have 30 BEVs on sale by 2025. Volkswagen is looking at 50 through its many brands in various global markets. The German automaker has laid out plans to spend more than $110 billion to electrify by the end of the decade.
“It’s worthwhile honoring these (new) companiesfor what they’ve accomplished. But there’s no guarantee they will succeed and thrive over the long term,” said analyst Abuelsamid.
Keyword: Startups Gaining Traction as Rivian R1T Named MotorTrend Truck of the Year