Rivian R1T plcks up MotorTrend Truck of the Year Award

The Rivian R1T is the first commercially out there electrical car with 4 motors, one to energy every particular person wheel. That permits higher off-road functionality, as a result of energy will be despatched exactly to the wheels with the most traction. When driving on pavement, it additionally helps with cornering, giving the R1T on-road related efficiency to a luxurious sedan, in response to MotorTrend. When testing the Rivian's competitor, the Hummer EV, MotorTrend staffers have been impressed with that truck's energy and quickness, however not with its huge weight (over 9,000 kilos) or with its brakes, which, in response to the writers, weren't up the process of shortly stopping all that mass. The R1T's physique has no hole between the mattress and passenger cab the method most vehicles do. That's not completely distinctive -— smaller vehicles like the Ford Maverick, one other finalist this yr, and Honda Ridgeline additionally lack that hole — however Rivian designers used that out there physique space to incorporate a cargo tunnel that runs throughout the truck the place that hole would have been. When open, doorways to that enclosed cargo space can be used as facet steps to achieve into the mattress up onto the roof. The R1T additionally has an enormous storage space underneath its hood.MotorTrend's writers additionally lauded the Rivian's inside design and supplies calling them worthy of the truck's $70,000 price ticket. While MotorTrend staffers did not look after the R1T's heavy reliance on a contact display for a lot of car features, they stated the interface was not less than fairly simple to make use of.MotorTrend is an element of a three way partnership co-owned by Discovery Inc. CNN is an element of WarnerMedia which is anticipated to merge with Discovery subsequent yr. Rivian solely not too long ago started constructing the the R1T for patrons and manufacturing was, initially, very sluggish, in response to paperwork filed with Securities and Exchange Commission. Whether startup corporations like Lucid and Rivian will have the ability to provide autos and repair to their prospects in the years forward wasn't actually a consideration for the award, Loh stated."It's Car of the Year. It's Truck of the Year," he stated. "It's not Business Plan of the Year."Skeptics raised related concern when Tesla gained the award in 2013, he identified, and Tesla went to turn into the world's best-selling maker of electrical autos.MotorTrend, then spelled Motor Trend, gave out its first Car of the Year award in 1949. At the time, the award was given to an total automobile model and Cadillac gained. The first Truck of the Year award was given in 1977 to the Ford Econoline van — additionally thought of a truck — however the award wasn't given in any respect between 1980 and 1989. Motor Trend's annual awards aren't at all times predictors of market success. In 2002, the Car of the Year award went to the retro-styled Ford Thunderbird, which continued in manufacturing solely three more years after that.Today, the awards are given to particular person car fashions which are both completely new or fully redesigned for the new mannequin yr.