By: Diane Benjamin
Reports are that Rivian is up to around 40 employees.
How Many Employees
do nothing but move Volkswagens?
(Just to keep them running until the emissions problem gets resolved)
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By: Diane Benjamin
Reports are that Rivian is up to around 40 employees.
(Just to keep them running until the emissions problem gets resolved)
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Why do you care?
Sent from my iPhone
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Inquisitive minds need to know. Besides that ole tax rebate scheme to bring them here deserves truth.
Maybe you should start paying their lawn mowing bill, so the taxpayers of Normal don’t have to? It is like $5000 a month, I believe. The point here is they are not a real car company and they will never make a car, a truck, a SUV or a flying saucer. So since they are touting and promising employment, it is important for us (the taxpayers) to know what is really going on.
Wow. I want your crystal ball, Larry. Pretty definitive statement: “they will never make a car.” That’s already wrong…they plant to unveil their truck at the LA Auto Show. But I know what you mean. Will you take that back when they start selling vehicles? They paid $16 million for the plant, by the way. Real money from a real company. Tax incentives are performance based, too.
Facts matter – they bought it for $2.5 million http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/rivian-completes-purchase-of-mitsubishi-plant/article_b5160bd6-6093-5c75-b025-52de87814cfe.html
Rich I don’t have a crystal ball.. but.I do have 20 years experience in the auto industry. I know for sure that you CANNOT run a full sized pickup through that 30 year old plant designed for small platform cars and SUVs without Millions of dollars (500 million I would guess) and at least 18 months to change every transfer, the paint shop and the main final assembly line and dozens of other really expensive systems. With that being said any target Rivian gives out is a lie because the plant is old and out of date and currently rusting solid. An auto plant is essentially a big machine. The vast majority of this machine is over 30 years old. When I see large trucks removing tons of scrap steel from outdated systems and several hundred people working on a complete retool of that plant I will begin to think they will actually make something. Until then this is all a lie that is being bought by people who have never worked a day in a auto plant or anywhere else for that matter requiring them to use their muscles.
Facts do matter. The Pantagraph misreported the figure (go figure). I work for the government, remember? I’d know. Rivian has reported they paid $16 million. Who you gonna believe? The paper you continue to criticize by calling it the Pravdagraph (yet continue to use as a source) or Rivian? Keep digging. You’ll find it.
Thanks for confirming the Pantagraph isn’t trustworthy. Maybe you should let them know. I bet you enjoy their almost 50 pages of too tiny to read comics today though.
It’s our tax money paying for it Tom that’s why. Was-a-matta you don’t work? Just on the public dole er ya Tom? Sittin’ around your mom’s basement playing video games all day and all night? Hey next time yer ma gives you yer allowance send it to BLNnews and don’t worry about how it’s spent.
Keep in mind, they promised hundreds of jobs by next year! Don’t hold your breath tho. It’s a scam.
Now they are going to build and electric pickup truck with an 800 HP engine… not kidding that was the story today…
Had a conversation with a guy today who started working out there about a month ago as an engineer. He says they are still on target for production in 2020. There’s a lot of modernization and has to go into the plant out there.
That guy is likely in on the scam by now – also, as to another company paying the guys who move the cars – I wonder if Rivian is paying that company, since Rivian gets money from VW to keep the cars and move them around now and then – Rivian seems to get money a lot through various little scams and flim flams, from gullible “investors”, or rich people who need a write-off, but they don’t produce much, or anything really for that matter, and haven’t for nine years now. Where does their income come from other than benefactors, investors, and grants? This place is so shady it almost defies belief, we can take heart I suppose that Normal isn’t the first town, and Illinois not the first state they have fleeced and fled.
I thought they were getting ready to unveil the new truck soon. HaHa.
It’s later this year, no wait it’s in 2019, or is it at the LA Car Show (year not mentioned so it might be 2025) – OH NO wait it’s gonna be in 2020, maybe, and it’s a truck er, no maybe an SUV or wait is it a self driving car? No, that was last year.. Gee I am just so confused – I mean Rivian is just SUCH an amazing and innovative company, right on the cutting edge and all, that I can barely keep up with them….
Has anybody figured out that nothing at the auto show has to run?
Well, I for ONE am NOT going to hold my breath until they make their first VEHICLE! Be it a super efficient electric oversized skateboard or a AMP guzzling Ranch King 2018!
I DO NOT see much coming out of this project! I kind of imagine that one would learn more looking up a goats ass then waiting for some kind of super efficient electric vehicle to roll off the line here. OTHERWISE TESLA wouldn’t have taken a 3/4 BILLION loss this last quarter! THINK ABOUT IT? TESLA uses 3/4 billion to FUND their projects and Rivian uses the UPTOWN BOYS for a couple MILLION to get things going?
WHO do YOU think is for REAL???
That’s like comparing the Hatfields to the Guggenheims!
I think Raunner made a GOOD observation when he said they SHOULD have 1,000 people WORKING already! He’s a businessman, and MADE his own money, and he KNOWS BS when he sees it!
Money TALKS, and Koos……got suckered!
100%, some people just never learned to connect the dots it seems, or how to research, or how to use inductive OR deductive reasoning – These people are a lot of the “smart people”, like Koos…
I think it is amusing that people here are dumb enough to think they are going to produce a full size truck in a 30 year old outdated plant designed to run small cars and SUVs. That plant would require a TOTAL retooling to run a full sized truck through it. Price tag for something like this? Most likely somewhere in the range of $500 million. Time needed to do something like this? Most likely 18 months to 2 years.
I’ll believe it, when I see it…
You’ll believe it when you see it, but not Larry.
Is that all you got for a rebuttal to my explanation of why Rivian will never make a car? Really? So is your role model for debating Bevis or Butthead? Message to everyone in this thread except Rich: Is it not amazing how most of the establishment characters that venture onto this site can really never do much real debating on the issues that are presented here? They are good at one line jabs or gaslighting or vainly trying to be trolls. Over the years, I have debated online and in person dozens of individuals on a variety of subjects. I have yet to come in contact with or debate anyone here in the establishment who is not an intellectual lightweight. Yes they may have the money and the power and
the influence but they are not the sharpest knives in Bloomington/Normal’s drawer. As Rodney Dangerfield would say: “Take Rich…please”.
Oh, Larry. That wasn’t a rebuttal. Funny. It wasn’t even directed to you.
You keep trying to define my job. Since it’s my site and you don’t pay me, you don’t get to tell me anything. I would report whoever is forcing you to read stories though.
One of the VW movers resides in one of my multifamily building. He is employed by neither nor Rivian. He is employed by a Contractor hired by VW. The cars are maintained until they are sent to a dealer for repair or to the scrap yard. If he is employed directly or indirectly by Rivian he provided false information on his application. He did show me his pay stubs prior to renting from me to verify his employment and they were from a company I had never heard of. His employer has a 3 year contract with VW. He told me that those employed to move the cars around will be given priority by Rivian as compared to people off the street when and if Rivian goes to production.
Does your renter want to buy some land in Florida???
Ask them. Do. Your. Job.
Like they are going to answer questions. You are so funny.
Oh I am SURE “RJ” would be GLAD to glibly run off some sickeningly well rehearsed line of absolute twaddle at anyone who would care to ask – it’s what he does, it’s how he lives so well without really DOING anything else.
Come on Diane… get on the phone and ask the head con man what is going on? Did you not know that is your job? At least Rich thinks it is your job… Earth to Rich…. Diane does not have an option to communicate directly with these scam artists… If she did I guarantee you she would be asking them questions that our idiot leadership does not think to ask…
They know the local media will print whatever they are told. They also know I wouldn’t.
“Has anybody figured out that nothing at the auto show has to run?” – DB
I know that, and YOU know that, but I would bet SOME people do not know that.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/23/17380600/rivian-electric-truck-pickup-suv-interview-rj-scaringe
If you feel like muddling through an absolute prime example of flim flam, double talk, psuedo-intellectual garbage and run around – this little interview would be a fine place to fulfill that desire.
Worth clicking on
Thank you, I thought it was a good little find so I shared it.
Thanks for doing Diane’s job, Ronin. I’m helping, too! Well, R.J. must be a superb conman. You could believe Larry and others who think this is a monumental, conspiratorial scam or believe the bank who just extended a $200 million line of credit. I think bank officials would have done due diligence in researching and vetting the company. http://wglt.org/post/6-new-things-we-learned-about-rivian-week Oh…here’s more about the international bank. What a bunch of losers, am I right?? “Standard Chartered is a leading international banking group, with more than a 150-year history in some of the world’s most dynamic markets. Standard Chartered’s purpose is to drive commerce and prosperity through their unique diversity, and their heritage and values are expressed in their brand promise, Here for good. Standard Chartered is present in more than 60 markets, with over 1,000 branches and around 3,000 ATMs. Standard Chartered PLC is listed on the London and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges as well as the Bombay and National Stock Exchanges in India.” Hey, Larry! When was the last time you secured a $200 million loan? Can’t wait to see you in one of their cars!
No kidding Rich? I stand corrected… not really… they borrowed $200 million?… OMG and you think that will start production on a electric truck in that plant? Please Rich do some research…. Why do thing only companies with very deep pockets make cars/trucks? A retooling of that plant and start up for the production of that plant will most likely cost 1.3 billion dollars… You can live in your little dream world with the rest of the leadership fools here if you want… but that is the economic reality of car/truck mass production. Like I said, this company is not going to make a truck or car or an SUV from that plant. As a side note: When Mitsubishi started the preparation to add the Endeavor line to the existing lines at the plant they spent $170 million on robots and tooling just for the body shop. 30 semis of equipment was brought in and set over a 8 month period. I was there watching it happen. You really have no idea what you are talking about Rich… Stop drinking the elitist cool aid…and wake up.
Is it not amazing the power that the media has on elitist like Rich….WGLT moves the establishment narrative forward with another glowing article about Rivian that ignores the economic realities of car/truck manufacturing. They ask no questions… they just act like a PR Parrot machine for Rivian. But then WGLT has had years of experience being State Farm’s PR Parrot machine. They are really good at it… So Rich sees that they got a loan for 200 million dollars! He thinks they are really going to make cars/turcks… No one has told Rich and he has not done the research that 200 million dollars is pocket change in the mass production of vehicles. So once again WGLT has moved the false narrative forward and Rich and people like him think Rivian is on the way to making vehicles.
Catch up Larry, the $200 million is just PART of their financing picture, just announced yesterday. Do I have to do all the work here. Read the latest press on them. They have the money.
Nothing is going to convince you Rich… good luck with your reality…. and keep reading the lapdog media here… they will surely continue to reinforce you and the rest of the fools here that these con-men are going to make vehicles. A car maker that needs someone to pay for their lawn to be mowed?…. You can’t make this stuff up.. LOL
Rich, I gotta hand it to you! I threw out my MAD magazines years ago and sometimes miss them, until I read your arguments. Reminds me of the old Dave Berg cartoons where he takes a subject and looks at it from SEVERAL angles!
Ever tour the River Rouge plant in Detroit? I did as a teen on a Pantagraph paperboy trip. $200 mill might get ya the welcome mat contract at ARA to have it cleaned!
Building cars ISN’T just a factory! It’s supply, OFFICE SPACE and workers, not to mention engineers, lawyers, accountants, and DEALERS, etc. WHAT do you think the payroll at MMMI was per year?
Ask yourself that and THEN look at your $200 million.. That’s like buying a shovel and saying you own a gold mine…
Exactly Townie… They are also forgetting about a VERY important aspect of that plant…It is a JIT plant.. Just in Time inventory plant… they have no warehouse facility there… parts (this is an assembly as well as a fabrication plant) come in hours or minutes before they are needed on the line. The producers of parts need to be within less than 60 miles from the plant. Do you see any parts makers lining up to sell parts to Rivian? No because they are not going to make anything in that plant.
You guys are confusing poor Rich, he likes to just believe the fairy tale – I’ll bet Rich has NO idea how many BIG, and I mean HUGE bank loans are given out and defaulted on by slimy slick little weasels JUST like RJ. How do they do it? I don’t know, and I don’t think I want to know I have too strong of a moral compass to become such a lying little slime-ball and am too rooted in reality to think I’m gonna get some money, conjure up some magic dust, and make a fantasy car, a car with VERY limited appeal as well, the kind of car they have to practically force people to drive. Maybe Rich is also unaware that despite the constant push and hype by the do-gooders, who know better than anyone else, Electric Cars are failing, even in Norway (where they were the most successful) they are slowing down considerably now that the subsidies and incentives are being taken away by Norway. They are basically little toys for the rich for them to have as a second or third car OR they are bought in bulk by companies for “around town” cars. Rivian is a dead duck, basically, but a few people are still trying to push it along and pretend it’s alive. Even the flagship of Electric cars is sputtering and it’s demise is being predicted in 3…2… 1…. it’s likely the $$$ Musk pumps into it that keeps it afloat. Of Course Musk got his start by getting “charity investments” from rich people, (aka angel investors) so who knows.
Yes we are Ronin… that real world will throw some people for a loop. Has anyone seen the new F-150 pickups? All aluminium bodies on these babies. Ford build a brand new plant to make them. Ford has really created some innovative technology to make this all happen. So back to our plant: We have a Clark Kent look-a-like guy with 1 patent and his 30 year old out of date small car plant is going to mass produce an electric truck with an 800 hp engine? It is amazing that anyone believes this fairy tale.
Well Rich likes RJ so it’s all good. But, Why couldn’t Ford, or Chevy, or Nissan, or Suburu, or Mazda, or Toyota or Buick or ANY company who knows how to make cars bought that place instead of Rivian? I mean even a company like Polaris and they could have made utility vehicles or golf carts or SOMETHING there!
YEAH! And HEY LAWRENCE, I have a photo of a U.F.O. that my father shot down with a bird rifle!
I JUST wish FORD had kept making (although I hear they MAY start making them again) their little work ponies the Ranger. I have a nice one with a 4.0 liter and it’s got 240,000 miles on it. Same engine, transmission, etc. ONLY work it’s had is brakes, tires and shocks, and suspension-due to our WELL KEPT STREETS-THANK YOU JOHNEE PAINTER!
You almost have to feel sorry for folks like Rich, as they are the SAME type that speed dial the commercials on TV that offer you the High speed driveway sweeper/salad maker and IF you order now they’ll DOUBLE the offer You JUST pay the S/H..
Poor guy probably a new boat JUST to saw it in two and use that “super stuff” they sell that will make a screen door float!
Rich: When you tour the Rivian plant and see ALL the cars rolling off the line, take some photos and post them, so you CAN make believers out of us brainless idiots!
I REALLY would like to see what a clean auto plant looks like anyway!
AND as a SECONDARY thought, electric cars are a bunch of pie in the sky hype by the uninformed! They only go about 300 miles before you have to plug them in and the batteries are EXPENSIVE as heck and use a LOT of LITHIUM, of which one of the BIGGEST world sources is AFGHANISTAN and China probably owns the mines, so yeah Rich-BUY AMERICAN! And support your local terrorist!
Where did Rich go? I thought he took a licking and kept on ticking? Maybe he has had enough of the real world for awhile? Where are you Rich?
Maybe he only comments from work.