Rivian says Australia market critically important, but may have to wait till 2023

Rivian’s latest filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has flagged the importance of the Australian market to its future success, but hinted its long awaited electric ute and SUV might not be launched in Australia until at least 2023.

Rivian is the maker of an electric SUV as well as an electric ute, that commenced production in September. Both promise to be extremely capable additions to electric vehicle markets, and the arrival of two models in Australia in August in the dark of night aboard a plane caused quite a flurry.

At the time, Rivian indicated to The Driven that those two particular vehicles were here for testing, and said that the vehicle was generating “intense interest” from potential Australian customers.

That interest could be further stoked by the latest filing, but customers may have to be prepared to hold their breath for a couple of years.

As we reported in August, the Amazon-backed company is making plans to go public with a reported valuation of $US80 billion that would make it one of the most valuable auto companies in the world by market value.

The latest S-1 filing, which registers the company with the SEC prior to its planned IPO, contains several references to Australia which underlines the company’s intention to launch its vehicles here.

Rivian’s filing notes that trucks (that is, utility trucks, or utes in Australia) and SUVs are the fastest-growing and profitable segment in the US – which is also the case in Australia – and that electric vehicle adoption is at a tipping point of no return.

In a paragraph discussing data privacy, Rivian states that “Many large geographies which may become important to our future success, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, and India, have passed or are considering comparable data privacy legislation or regulations.”

The document also refers to Rivian’s “serviceable addressable market” (SAM) which it estimates to be worth $US1 trillion ($A1.36 trillion).

But Australia is not included in these initial estimations. As the document notes, the filing also notes that the company’s near-term plans include expansion into Canada and Western Europe. Only after this will “major Asian-Pacific markets” follow, it would seem.

And Rivian describes how it has calculated its “SAM”: “We only include vehicle sales in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe when calculating SAM given we plan to operate and sell our consumer vehicles in these regions through 2023.”