Mayor Koos on his test drive at Rivian

Posted on September 29, 2021
Normal Mayor Chris Koos touring the Rivian plant earlier this week. (Scott Miller/WJBC)

By Neil Doyle

NORMAL – Normal Mayor Chris Koos was one of several local leaders who got to test drive Rivian’s R1T pickup truck earlier this week.

The vehicles are starting to roll off the production line, and Koos says he is very impressed with Rivian’s growth since coming to town.

“When they talked to us a couple of years ago they said they would mature out to about 1,100 employees, now it’s over 2,000, and now they are talking upwards of 5,000,” Koos told WJBC’s Marc Strauss. “They are just able to garner so much investment, develop new products, and doing much more manufacturing on site then they thought they would. It’s just unbelievable what they’ve been able to accomplish.”

Koos says he also expects Rivian to attract other businesses to the Twin-Cities.

“It’s not uncommon when you have a large automotive manufacturing plant like Rivian that secondary suppliers, whether it be small manufacturing or logistics, they like to locate near them.”

Meanwhile, community members will have the opportunity Thursday through this Sunday to get a close-up look at the R1T pickup and meet members of the Rivian staff. More information is available here.

Neil Doyle can be reached at [email protected]

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