“That looks like a great place to play in,” a woman said as her two children, having already figured that out, ran ahead to the open Gear Tunnel of Rivian’s R1T pickup, a lockable, watertight storage space. (There’s a release latch, as per federal law for all trunks, so a child cannot get locked in.) Meanwhile, the tunnel’s two weight-baring doors make great seating or steps for you to secure camping or athletic equipment atop the truck.
Welcome to your next adventure, courtesy of Rivian Automotive Inc., which officially opened its 22nd location – and first in the metro suburban area, having two in New York City – on Friday, Feb. 21, at The Westchester in White Plains. (This grand opening preceded a soft opening a week earlier on Valentine’s Day.)
The grand opening came a day after Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) — which offers a seven-seat SUV, the R1S, along with the R1T — announced fourth quarter and full year 2024 financial results, reporting a gross profit of $170 million and record revenues. In that quarter, Rivian produced 12,727 vehicles at its manufacturing facility in Normal, Illinois – it is headquartered in Irvine, California — and delivered 14,183 vehicles. For the full-year 2024, Rivian produced 49,476 vehicles and delivered 51,579.
At just under 4,000 square feet on The Westchester’s Level 1, the new space underscores the brand’s emphasis on adventure “for generations to come,” as communications manager Charlotte Catania put it, in an atmosphere that blends high tech (state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly vehicles) with high comfort. A rustic lounge area lets you browse related coffee-table books or enjoy a projection of Rivian’s performance in the great outdoors. There’s an area for branded merchandise and one where you can learn all about the all-wheel-drive vehicles – which, after all, are the stars of the retail space.
Starting at $75,900, the R1S gets up to 410 miles on one charge. The R1T gets up to 420 miles per charge and starts at $69,900. (The Rivian Wall Charger for at-home charging costs $800.) The R1S and R1T come standard in LA Silver. You can choose to upgrade your paint to Glacier White; Rivian Blue; Forest Green; Red Canyon; Midnight (black); El Cap Granite or Limestone (shades of gray). The interiors consist of a second-generation vegan leather, Advantex, made from 100% recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles with 50% sustainable polymer coating.
There are also Tri-Motor and Quad-Motor configurations of both vehicles that combine range with even great power.
“The R1 Tri-Motor variant offers 850 horsepower and an EPA-estimated range of 371 miles, blending power and performance,” Catania said in a follow-up email. “Tri-Motor also has premium interior options available and an all-new Storm Blue exterior color option. Tri-Motor R1T starts at $99,900 and Tri-Motor R1S starts at $105,900.”
Of course, the true test of a vehicle is where the rubber meets the road. With Senior Field Product Guide Josteen Gonzales – one of 10 Rivian staffers at The Westchester site, including Manager Bryan Tantillo – at the wheel, we headed out for a quick tour of downtown White Plains in the R1S Tri, the 2025 Esquire Car of the Year. It was a ride so smooth and blissfully uneventful that we chatted about all the new construction in the city, although Gonzales noted that we could shift into another drive mode for a different experience. (The Tri-Motor and Quad-Motor configurations have nine drive modes — All Purpose, All-Terrain, Conserve, Drift, Rally, Rock Crawl, Soft Sand, Snow and Sport.)
If God is in the details, Rivian vehicles have some delightful ones, like the small flashlight, with 1,000 hours of battery, that pops out of a charger on the driver’s side of every vehicle. Among the separate features is the Rivian Travel Kitchen, a fold-out induction kitchen that requires no setup. The two-burner induction cooktop can be powered by R1 vehicles or any 120V power source. It comes with a carrying case with ergonomic handles, a cutting board, a drawer, an insert and hanging lights, all for camping or tailgating.
The adventurousness that is at the heart of Rivian is also key to founder and CEO RJ Scaringe, who created the company in 2009. Growing up in Rockledge, Florida, he was excited by two things – cars and nature. When he wasn’t in his neighbor’s garage, helping him with Porsche restorations, he was in a rowboat on the 121-mile-long Indian River. When it came time for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)-trained engineer to name his company, he looked to the river for inspiration and found it.
“(It’s) not actually a river,” he recalled in the September 2022 episode of the podcast “How I Built This.” “It’s the (Atlantic Ocean), right? Yeah, it’s essentially part of the intercoastal waterways. It’s a path for large ships to move if there’s large storms. They come in, they come inland through this waterway.
“But anyway, so we took the first three letters of the word river, R-I-V, and the last three letters of the word Indian, I-A-N, and merged those two together into Rivian. We wanted something that was phonetically easy to say. We loved the basis of it coming from the word ‘river’. It sounds like a word that’s flowing and moving. We wanted something that didn’t mean anything in any language around the world, which this satisfies. So for a bunch of engineers thinking about how to name a car company, that was what we came up with.”
Staying the EV course
These are challenging times in the EV industry, as the earnings report indicated, with a nod to potential changes in government policies and regulations. But Scaringe, who helms a staff of 700, remains bullish on Rivian’s future as they look to launch the R2S, a midsize SUV, early in 2026:
“This quarter we achieved positive gross profit and removed $31,000 in automotive cost of goods sold per vehicle delivered in Q4 2024 relative to Q4 2023. Our focus on cost efficiency across the business is critical for the launch of our mass market product, R2. The R2 bill of materials is approximately 95% sourced and is expected to be approximately half that of the improved R1 bill of materials. I couldn’t be more excited about R2, and I believe the combination of capabilities and cost efficiencies along with the amazing level of excitement from customers will make R2 a truly transformational product for Rivian.”
Keeping the R2 in mind, Rivian and Volkswagen Group have entered into a “Joint Venture,” Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technology. With a total deal of up to $5.8 billion, including $3.5 billion of proceeds slated for receipt in the next several years, the venture plans to bring “next-generation electrical architecture and best-in-class software technology” to Rivian and Volkswagen Group’s future EVs, starting with the R2. Rivian has also closed a loan agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) for up to $6.6 billion ($6 billion of principal and approximately $600 million of capitalized interest). The loan is expected to support the construction of Rivian’s next U.S. manufacturing facility in Georgia, which aims to create about 7,500 jobs there.
Meanwhile, the earnings report added, Rivian’s commercial van offering continues to progress. In 2024, more than one billion packages were delivered by Amazon in the Rivian Electric Delivery Van (EDV) in the U.S. alone. (The Rivian Commercial Van is the platform on which Amazon’s custom EDV is based.) Earlier in February, Rivian opened sales for its commercial van to fleets of all sizes in the U.S.
Founded on the idea that vehicles cannot only coexist with nature but even help it, Rivian is keen on staying the course.
“I think we are focused on building a really compelling product,” Catania said, adding, “you have to be optimistic about the future.”
