A Rivian R1T all-electric pickup was noticed with take a look at automobile license plates in Korea, close to Hyundai’s analysis and improvement heart in Namyang, with photographs of the encounter posted on the @shorts_car Instagram account late final week.
As a reminder, Rivian presently sells its passenger autos – the R1T pickup and R1S SUV – completely in North America, so seeing one all the way in which on the opposite facet of the planet is kind of attention-grabbing and makes us marvel why would an all-electric American truck roam the streets of South Korea.
The Korean Automotive Blog alleges that the R1T was shipped to the opposite facet of the world as a result of Hyundai needs to benchmark it in opposition to a few of its upcoming all-electric autos, together with two pickup vans, one among which ought to make its strategy to North America.
Final yr, Hyundai Motor Firm introduced that it’ll introduce an all-new devoted EV structure in 2025 dubbed Built-in Modular Structure (IMA) which can underpin every part from small metropolis automobiles to massive SUVs and pickups.
So the idea that Hyundai would take a look at the Rivian R1T to see the way it might be beat at its personal sport sounds affordable. One other risk is that any person bought the American electrical pickup after which moved to South Korea and determined to take his automobile with him, but it surely’s near not possible to confirm.
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This wouldn’t be the primary time a Rivian R1T ended up in locations the place it could possibly’t be formally purchased, with an Austrian-registered unit carrying producer license plates being noticed in Belgium, Spain, and Germany, beginning rumors a couple of potential market entry in Europe for the California-based EV startup.
These rumors have been denied by Rivian, although, with the corporate’s solely official presence on the Outdated Continent being a fleet of Amazon Electrical Supply Vans (EDVs). Moreover, RJ Scaringe, the agency’s founder and CEO, stated previously that the upcoming, smaller and extra reasonably priced R2-based EVs can be out there in additional elements of the world after occurring sale within the US someday in 2026.
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