Rivian Automotive Shows Faraday Future How It's Done, Acquires Illinois Plant

That's because even though the company was founded in 2009, it has been working behind closed doors until very recently. With a relatively small workforce - which included a few high-profile signings like Peter Stevens, the man who helped design the McLaren F1 - the once Florida-based startup planned to build a mid-engine, rear wheel drive sports car with a two-plus-two seating configuration.

But that was in 2009. Now, its plans have changed and Rivian Automotive is joining the long list of manufacturers who look to put an electric car on the market over the next few years. However, unlike other names you've heard of (quite often, actually) lately, this little company has another way of doing things.

You could say that Rivian is more work, less talk, and its latest activity would support that. Even though it hasn't shown any concept cars, any prototypes or any real intention of building anything, the company acts as if it knows where its priorities lie. It knows you can have the know-how and the money to build a car, but if you don't have an actual place to assemble it, then you might as well start designing vehicles for video games.

Rivian Automotive has come out of the shadows, and it has done it with purpose and a refreshing lack of overly-ptimistic claims (yes, Faraday Future, we're talking about you). Well, the video does say the company's mission is to "reimagine and reshape the future of mobility," so maybe that last part isn't exactly true. The most important part, though, is the fact that Rivian has secured the old Mitsubishi plant on Normal (yes, it's an actual place), Illinois.

The price of the transaction has not been disclosed, but the new owners have already announced their intention to invest around $175 million in the factory over the next seven years and create 1,000 jobs in the process, Pantagraph says.

The company hopes to start production by 2019, which means that even though it's been quiet about it, it already has a working prototype for the vehicle it plans to produce there. In fact, Rivian says we will be able to get a first look before the end of this year, which makes it quite exciting.

Not much is known about the vehicles that will be built at the Normal plant other that they will be electric and, most likely, capable of autonomous driving. Well, what did you expect?