Rivian Teases Testing of Dual-Motor All-Wheel-Drive Variant for Greater Performance

On the good side, the Irvine, California-based company just last week received an early Christmas gift from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) in the form of a Top Safety Pick+ for its R1T pickup truck.

Some bad news for the company also came to light last week when quality problems arose on both the R1T and R1S SUV offerings from the company. The issues at hand were brought to light by the Out of Spec Detailing YouTube channel and involve misaligned body panels with gap uniformity issues, among other problems.

The goofy news comes from the state of Florida, where the Homeowners association of the snooty Weston Hills Country Club is threatening to fine a Rivian R1T owner for parking his pickup in his driveway in violation of association rules.

Regardless of all the noise surrounding the company, the research and development guys are hard at work, engineering the next generation of vehicles the company plans to make.

In a tweet dated December 20, the company boasted about the testing of Dual-Motor All-Wheel-Drive vehicles. The tweeted video shows both an R1T and an R1S being put through their paces in a variety of off-road settings and drifting on a dirt track.

The tweet also spelled out some performance specifics, stating the new motor configuration will result in 640 hp (447 kW or 649 ps) and 600 ft-lbs (813 Nm) of torque, enabling a 0-60 (0-96.5 kp/h) run of just 4.5 seconds.

Enhanced versions are expected to bring 691 horsepower (515 kW or 700 ps) and 0-60 times in as little as 3.5 seconds to both the pickup and SUV. In addition, the standard and enhanced variants will retain the R1T’s 11,000 lb. towing capacity.

While the engineers are out in the field, execs and workers are back at home at their factory in Normal, Illinois, trying to create a... normal. Since the production of its R1T pickup began back in September of 2021, the company has struggled to reach a consistent flow of output.

Economic conditions leading to supply chain issues and parts shortage have affected Rivian's production goals just as they have other automakers. As of end the of Q3 Rivian produced 14,317 trucks and delivered 12,278 of the over 200,000 units the company reportedly has firm orders for.

Customers began receiving their Rivian R1S SUVs in August after numerous delays, however, the time to take delivery on new orders is rather lengthy. According to Tom's Guide, if you were to order an R1S today by handing over $1,000 as a fully refundable deposit, you will not get your SUV until late next year.