Rivian, the American-made electric vehicle brand, arrived in Southwest Florida with a new service and demonstration center.
The Rivian service center opened in September at 9987 Gulf Logistics Drive, off Ben Hill Griffin Parkway, north of Gulf Coast Town Center in Lee County.
The 20,000-square-foot space is on the southern end of Gulf Landing Logistics Center, a warehouse developed by Coconut Creek-based Butters and Canada-based property management company BentallGreenOak. They partnered in 2021 on a $40 million, 300-acre land deal with the Rivian service center one of the first tenants.
Rivian’s upcoming R2 five-passenger SUV is shown. The new model, expected to launch at a starting price in the $45,000 range, is designed to attract a wider customer base and will be serviced by the newly opened center in Lee County.
Rivian
Rivian’s service center has four mechanical lifts, eight flat bays and 10 employees. Two are mobile technicians, while three work in the brick-and-mortar center. Each day, mobile maintenance specialists are dispatched from the center to handle repairs in the field.
Rivian has a direct-to-consumer sales model. The company started in 2009 but did not sell its first vehicle until 2021. Although the south Fort Myers location is not a car dealership, customers can visit and plan their car in the store with an adviser, said Beau Whiteman, Rivian’s director of state affairs. His job entails communicating with state elected officials on improving EV infrastructure.
The center also sells Rivian-branded T-shirts, hats and other items.
“Folks are welcome to schedule an appointment to come in and meet with our teams, learn about the products, take a test drive,” Whiteman said. “They can actually go through the purchase process there. And the vehicle would be delivered in due time.
“The most important purpose of this building is, once folks own the vehicles, they now have a place in their community to bring it should something go wrong. Our choosing to locate here reflects the growing demand we have here in Southwest Florida.”
This marks Rivian’s fourth service and demo center in Florida, following Miami, Orlando and Tampa. It arrives just a few months before Rivian plans on rolling out its third car model.
The R2 will join the R1T truck and the R1S SUV and will come in at a lower price point than its predecessors, Whitman said.
The new Rivian R2 SUV. The vehicle will come in at a lower price point than the current R1T and R1S, a strategy company officials hope will increase its market share in Southwest Florida.
Rivian
So far, Rivian has been a niche product in Southwest Florida, registering only 52 new vehicles through the first eight months of the year. This compares to leaders like AutoNation Toyota Fort Myers (2,768 new cars), Germain Toyota of Naples (2,439) and Tesla Florida (2,077), according to the AutoCount Trend Report.
Rivian ranked 121st, with 52 new vehicle registrations.
But Rivian expects that slice of the pie to rise in the coming months upon release of the R2, which will release at a lower price point.
The R1T starts at $70,990, and the R1S starts at $76,990. But the R2, a five-passenger-seat SUV, will start in the $45,000 range, about $5,000 below the $50,000 average price of a new vehicle.
“We prepare to launch our more affordable product, the R2,” Whiteman said, “which is going to be manufactured at much higher volumes and available to more customers. Getting a service infrastructure set up right now is important to us.”
A Rivian R1T truck (left) and R1S SUV (right) are parked outside the new south Fort Myers service center. The facility will provide essential support for existing owners and for the launch of the brand’s more affordable R2 SUV model.
Rivian
Rivian, headquartered in Irvine, California, has a factory in Normal, Illinois, with another under construction in Social Circle, Georgia, about an hour east of Atlanta.
The expiration of federal tax incentives of up to $7,500 for EV purchases has Rivian undaunted about the future, Whiteman said, especially with a new, more affordable model on the way.
“Here’s what I’ll say,” Whiteman said. “At Rivian, we feel very confident in the products that we are developing and how they’re resonating with our customers.
“Our leadership talks about one of the biggest things holding us back is customer choice. Variety. Diversity of product. What we’re so excited about in this moment in bringing the R2 to market is how compelling a product it is on its merits, regardless of fuel type.
“And whether it’s Rivian or a variety of other manufacturers, you are seeing EVs come in at or below that average vehicle selling price. Even without the federal tax incentive, these products are compelling on their own. EVs offer a much lower maintenance and substantially lower fuel cost. If we can achieve parity on purchase price, it’s a pretty easy decision on the consumer’s part. All we have to do is offer compelling products.”