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Buick Riviera R1T Looks Like the Gloomy EV Poster Child of a Dystopian Rivian Past

Sure thing, Riviera (which is Latin for coastline) does sound a lot like Rivian. But the personal luxury car from Buick was revealed as a 1963MY, a good two decades before the founder of the EV manufacturer was even born!
Buick Riviera R1T personal luxury car mashup CGI by photo.chopshop 62 photos
Photo: photo.chopshop / Instagram
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Unfortunately for the automotive world in general and for classic car aficionados in particular, only one of them is alive and well even today. Luckily, for all humankind, it is Robert ‘R.J.’ Scaringe, the American entrepreneur and engineer who founded and is currently the CEO of electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian.

As for General Motors’ initial entry into the then-sprawling personal luxury car market segment, the Buick Riviera was once a highly praised and high-profile entry into the fold – and now but a fond memory of dearly departed times. After all, it ceased its worldly existence and moved on across the plains of car Valhalla after the 1999 model year and following a cool eight-generation stint.

No worries, though, as it will not be forgotten – for both the right and wrong reasons. As far as Henry Andrus (formerly known as Andrews) is concerned, you need to be the judge of that. He is the virtual artist better known as photo.chopshop on social media who has a prolific imagination when it comes to mashups, including vintage EV ones, so we are just going to state the facts.

As such, this pixel master is a well-established persona among those digital experts with a knack for outrageous CGI mashup ideas. Most of his creations are utterly horrendous but do not jump to conclusions and hurry up to dismiss his work – out of sheer luck or pure passion, he sometimes nails some crazy mixes that would look great even in real life.

Alas, we are not so sure what to make out of this Buick Riviera R1T. On the one side, it is creepily dark and, on the other side, it looks like the gloomy yet cool child of a dystopian, neo-noir Rivian EV past. Plus, I just imagined Logan (aka Wolverine) at the wheel…


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Editor's note: Gallery includes official images of Buick Riviera and Rivian R1T.

About the author: Aurel Niculescu
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Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution.
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