Rivian pauses work on $5B electric truck plant in Georgia

ATLANTA (AP) — Electric truck maker Rivian says it’s pausing construction of a $5 billion manufacturing plant in Georgia.

The announcement Thursday put the brakes on Georgia’s second-largest economic development project, which came with $1.5 billion in incentives from the state and local governments.

Rivian had planned to start building its R2 midsize SUV in Georgia.

It unveiled designs for the R2 and made the unexpected announcement of two new crossover models on Thursday.

But CEO RJ Scaringe says R2 production will now begin at the company’s existing plant in Normal, Illinois, so they can reach the market more quickly and save $2.25 billion.

Scaringe says the Georgia plant “remains really important” to Rivian, but didn’t say when construction would resume.

“The timing for resuming construction is expected to be later,” the company said in a statement.

Rivian’s share price jumped after the company announced its new models, closing at $12.51, up 13%.

That’s still far below the colossal stock valuation it held when it generated billions in a public offering in 2021. On the company’s first day of trading, Rivian shares closed at $100.73, giving it a total stock market valuation of almost $86 billion — at the time, bigger than Ford and slightly lower than General Motors.

The site near Social Circle has been expected to eventually hire 7,500 workers and produce up to 200,000 vehicles by the completion of its first phase later this year. A second planned phase would boost capacity for an additional 200,000 vehicles per year by 2030.

State and local governments were projected to spend more than $125 million to buy the nearly 2,000-acre site near Social Circle for Rivian, clear trees and grade land, documents show. That work has been finished, with the state turning the site over to Rivian. The state also has completed most of $50 million in roadwork that it pledged. But signs for Rivian Parkway at a new traffic signal on U.S. 278 had been removed Thursday.

If the plant isn’t ultimately built, it would dent Gov. Brian Kemp’s goal of making Georgia a center of the electric vehicle industry.

Kemp’s office declined comment, referring reporters to the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

“Rivian has restated its commitment to Georgia,” the state agency said in statement. It added that state and local economic development officials remain “in steady communication with Rivian regarding its manufacturing plans” in Georgia.

JoEllen Artz of Morgan Land, Sky & Water Preservation, a group that has backed legal battles opposing construction of the Rivian project, said she hopes the pause means the plant will never be built.

“I’m happy with a pause at least,” Artz said.