Electric vehicle startup Rivian launched a new promotional campaign to tout its Georgia roots, which the company’s leaders say will soon take hold despite its decision in March to pause its planned $5 billion factory an hour east of Atlanta.
The slickly produced campaign is making the rounds days after Rivian officials showed off three prototype crossover EVs the company said it will build in Georgia once it completes its factory near Rutledge. But a new start date for construction has not yet been announced.
Titled “Proudly Made in Georgia,” the initiative is packed with Peach State iconography. Plug-in pickup trucks are shown spattered with red clay. Electric SUVs are driven around Covington’s central square and under the shimmering lights of the Fox Theatre in Midtown.
“We’re here in Georgia to continue our journey, building our next line of world-class electric vehicles,” a narrator says over building classical music in the campaign’s lead promotional video.
The website also lists job openings, project renderings and other Georgia-related Rivian information.
Credit: proudlymadeingeorgia.com
Credit: proudlymadeingeorgia.com
The effort heightens Rivian leaders’ calls for Georgians to remain patient as the upstart ramps up its existing production capabilities, shores up its finances and prepares to begin vertical construction on its factory along I-20 in southern Morgan and Walton counties. Rivian has promised to employ 7,500 workers at the factory by 2030, and the plant represents the state’s second largest economic development project.
The California-based company’s Georgia factory was first announced by Gov. Brian Kemp with huge fanfare in December 2021, but the endeavor has suffered multiple delays and setbacks.
Rivian CEO R.J. Scaringe surprised state leaders in March when he said production of the R2 crossover, which was supposed to be manufactured solely in Georgia, would instead begin rolling off production lines at the company’s existing factory in Illinois and that vertical construction of the Georgia plant was on hold.
The announcement prompted some state politicians to worry that Rivian would abandon its plans to building the 16 million-square-foot factory at the Stanton Springs industrial park — for which state and local politicians offered $1.5 billion in incentives.
Company leaders have stressed that won’t happen.
Credit: Steve Schaefer/AJC
Credit: Steve Schaefer/AJC
Rivian Vice President of Facilities Tony Sanger said Saturday at the company’s showroom at Ponce City Market that, “We are not abandoning Georgia.” Rivian has said it will start R2 production in Illinois and expand assembly of R2 in Georgia and build the R3 and R3X models it recently unveiled in the Peach State.
Rivian spokesperson Peebles Squire said the new campaign is a continuation of those outreach efforts.
“We launched Proudly Made in Georgia to further illustrate Rivian’s commitment to the Peach State and to serve as a clearinghouse for company updates, recruiting and progress toward start of production at our Stanton Springs site,” he said in a statement.
The campaign can be found at proudlymadeingeorgia.com.
Cox Enterprises, which owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, also owns about a 3% stake in Rivian.
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