Rivian: A New Breed of Electric Vehicles, Taking Adventurers to Places that Tesla Cannot

Since this article was first published, the Rivian embargo has ended, and The Outdoor Journal has published the full story. You can read it here.

At the end of this month, at the LA Auto Show, a new way to explore the world will be unveiled by Rivian. A company that you've probably never heard of, but has been busy for 9 years "developing vehicles and services that inspire people to get out and explore the world". Until the unveil happens and the embargo that we're held to ends, there is very little that The Outdoor Journal can tell you, but we can try and get you excited.

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"to be used, to get dirty"

The company positions itself as aspirational, as many other manufacturers do, such as Tesla, Mercedes, BMW, and Jaguar. However, this is where the similarities between Rivian and these brands end. As explained to The Outdoor Journal, Rivian's products are designed to sit at the cross section between being both aspirational and invitational (as opposed to presentational). Functionality is key to Rivian, the vehicles to be released will take us off road, and help us explore the world in a way that does not harm the environment. As Rivian Founder, RJ Scaringe explained during The Outdoor Journal's sneak peak, the company is building vehicles that are designed "to be used, to get dirty".

The company aims to enable adventure, enable activities, and enables you to go places. "Enable" is a word that RJ Scaringe repeated, again and again, during Wednesday's event. The Outdoor Journal does not pretend to represent petrol heads, therefore this is a key word. When RJ used the word "Enable", it spoke to us directly. How will Rivian empower us, and people like us to do the things that we love doing? How will it help us explore the world in a way that isn't harmful, but also enhance the experience? Will we be able to trust these vehicles to take us to some of the most remote places in the world? We'll be able to tell you more by the end of this month, but for now we believe it's worth getting excited about.