Rivian Moving Jobs from Michigan to California

**JonWylie** · June-23-20, 08:58 PM

Unclear exactly what this means for Plymouth. Some reports say they are moving everyone, some say people are staying behind. Seems like it may beginning of the end for Rivian in Michigan though. This quote is particularly damning.

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe "believes California is a cool place to be and Detroit has an old technology image," a former Rivian executive told Automotive News. "He thinks California represents tomorrow and Detroit is all about yesterday."

**Richard** · June-23-20, 09:06 PM

American automotive technology startup Rivian has raised $1.3 billion in new funding, the company announced today. The new investment is the fourth round of capital announced by the company in 2019 alone, following prior announcements of $700 million led by Amazon, $500 million from Ford [[which includes a collaboration on electric vehicle technology) and $350 million from Cox Automotive.

https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/23/ri...ture-vehicles/

Not sure about California represents tomorrow when a lot of companies are actually leaving there.

They could have represented Detroit as it moves into tomorrow but seems to be looking more for cool.

The feds are giving a $7500 tax credit to buy their vehicles,cannot be all that if you have to pay people to buy your trucks.

At least they will be saving the planet,no matter where they locate.

But they already have a plant in a converted factory in Illinois.

**313WX** · June-23-20, 09:15 PM

I imagine they're also having a hell of a time attracting talent to Metro Detroit, let alone bumfucking Normal, IL.

**JonWylie** · June-23-20, 09:16 PM

Originally Posted by 313WX

I imagine they're also having a hell of a time attracting talent to Metro Detroit.

Auto engineering talent? Maybe, but I imagine that's the one thing we can compete in better than anything else.

**Seven&wyo** · June-23-20, 09:17 PM

It seems the "moving all jobs to CA" narrative is speculatory while a spokeperson said, "Of Rivian’s 2,300 employees, approximately 1,000 are based in California and 750 in Michigan, and we are consolidating some engineering teams to our locations in California to improve workflows and reduce environmental impact from travel. We’ve recently completed an expansion at our Michigan location and it will remain an important presence for us. We are also committed to creating a vibrant and inviting manufacturing presence in Normal, Illinois, where all Rivian vehicles will be produced. As we grow, we’ll keep evaluating and evolving our footprint and geography." It seems like they're reducing their footprint in MI and IL with that being said saying Detroit is yesterday is cunty to say the least.

**313WX** · June-23-20, 09:17 PM

Originally Posted by JonWylie

Auto engineering talent? Maybe, but I imagine that's the one thing we can compete in better than anything else.

Tech talent is the issue.

It's the same reason GM's Cruise division is still based in California.

**Richard** · June-23-20, 09:18 PM

^ they get more support on the west coast,everybody is about saving the planet over there,people in the east coast are more realistic.

Its a truck that looses 50% of its charge while towing,as it stands about as useless as tits on a bull.

**313WX** · June-23-20, 09:35 PM

It's not like Detroit hasn't dealt with this before.

Berry Gordy said the same exact thing back in the early 70s when he moved Motown to Los Angeles. Evelyn Overton [[Cheesecake Factory) did the same thing in order for her venture to really take off. Bill Pulte also moved his company to Atlanta for the same reason[[s).

I'm sure it's tough when these things happen, but I don't know what else Detroit can do to change the situation. Some take pride in the fact that Detroit is this gritty blue collar town that isn't experiencing the growing pains of newer cities in the Sunbelt, but the trade off for that is less prestige from an investment and cultural standpoint.

**Satiricalivory** · June-23-20, 09:45 PM

Is Rivian even going to produce a car? In the EV world they're seen as a joke. They might do some stuff for Amazon though.

Rivian got most of their talent here just fine, so that's not the issue otherwise they would not need to move anybody to California.

It's shitty but I think it says more about them than Detroit. Irvine California is not exactly some bustling exciting cool place people just have to live, it's a suburb that looks just like Plymouth. [[actually forget what I said, Irvine looks more like Troy MI which is worse. Plymouth has a nice old town sort of look.)

As for the snide comments, he's from California so of course he's going to say that cliche stuff.

**Satiricalivory** · June-23-20, 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by 313WX

Tech talent is the issue.

It's the same reason GM's Cruise division is still based in California.

Well to be fair, Cruise was founded and grew In California all GM did was buy the company. It didn't make sense to simply rip out the roots of the company and move it here. I think I made this exact same point in the other thread.

**313WX** · June-23-20, 09:56 PM

Originally Posted by Satiricalivory

It's shitty but I think it says more about them than Detroit. Irvine California is not exactly some bustling exciting cool place people just have to live, it's a suburb that looks just like Plymouth. [[actually forget what I said, Irvine looks more like Troy MI which is worse. Plymouth has a nice old town sort of look.)

While Irvine is far from some urban hipster or Yuppie utopia, it does get way more brownie points than Troy or Plymouth for being a part of the Greater Los Angeles area, which let's admit is on a completely different level from a quality of life standpoint than most US cities besides NYC.

**JonWylie** · June-23-20, 10:06 PM

I'll admit that I feel like I'm just spewing sour grapes, but it seems like moving at this time means they aren't as close to release as they thought.

**Satiricalivory** · June-23-20, 10:11 PM

I disagree. What is the daily quality of life difference? You're getting up and going to work/doing anything through driving on the highway and back, living in a suburban home, shopping in strip malls etc. Just like in Troy. And California is also wildly more expensive on all fronts.

I think the real life difference that cannot be argued against is the milder weather. But some people also prefer seasons.

To me a quality of life difference are things like universal healthcare or free higher public education, and as we all know you don't get those things in the US anywhere.

**313WX** · June-23-20, 10:34 PM

Originally Posted by Satiricalivory

I disagree. What is the daily quality of life difference? You're getting up and going to work/doing anything through driving on the highway and back, living in a suburban home, shopping in strip malls etc. Just like in Troy. And California is also wildly more expensive on all fronts.

Besides the mild & sunny weather, there's the scenery with all of the mountains & ocean. You also get to live in one of the most ethically diverse metro areas in the world.

The Greater Los Angeles area in general is also great for someone early in their career [[the type of workers a company like Rivian wants to attract) who's looking to climb quickly in their profession because of its extremely diverse economy.

**CR75** · June-24-20, 06:22 AM

I don't think you can argue that Metro Detroit lacks automotive tech talent. Isn't that the reason why Rivian was here in the first place?

Sounds to me instead that some executives got tired/scared of all the traveling back and forth, and decided to minimize/eliminate the travel with the excuse of 'lowering the carbon footprint' or whatever corporate lingo bs they used. I hope Rivian's viability as a startup does not suffer from this, but it probably will, at least in the short term. Moving people around might cause disruption for their upcoming, long-awaited product launch.

**401don** · June-24-20, 06:57 AM

I think they see Tesla's stock price, not to mention Ford's, and figure Wall Street loves a California based auto company.

**EGrant** · June-24-20, 08:36 AM

I know this is a Detroit forum, but are we seriously trying to compare Troy, MI to Irvine?

**JBMcB** · June-24-20, 08:36 AM

I know people who work with Rivian. They aren't moving everyone. They are just shuffling teams around.

**Satiricalivory** · June-24-20, 10:07 AM

Originally Posted by JBMcB

I know people who work with Rivian. They aren't moving everyone. They are just shuffling teams around.

The title is clickbait but I think what made this cause a stir was the comments by the "former" CEO.

BTW why does it say former? Did he cash out when Amazon and Ford got on board?

**JonWylie** · June-24-20, 11:08 AM

The first article has since updated to say that not all employees will move to California

Seems weird if they are going to keep what seems like less than 500 people in Michigan if their other operations are Illinois and California.

**iheartthed** · June-24-20, 01:30 PM

Where will the HQ be? Is that going to Irvine or staying in Plymouth? It seemed like they were positioning themselves to be acquired by Ford, so a move of the HQ to California would be a signal that the acquisition strategy has cooled.

**Luke09** · June-25-20, 12:24 PM

Originally Posted by Satiricalivory

I disagree. What is the daily quality of life difference? You're getting up and going to work/doing anything through driving on the highway and back, living in a suburban home, shopping in strip malls etc. Just like in Troy. And California is also wildly more expensive on all fronts.

I think the real life difference that cannot be argued against is the milder weather. But some people also prefer seasons.

To me a quality of life difference are things like universal healthcare or free higher public education, and as we all know you don't get those things in the US anywhere.

We do have seasons in California, especially in NorCal, in January I can drive 90 minutes away here in SoCal and going skiing or snowmobiling in the mountains. We recently launched a promise program, which offers free tuition at 2-yr colleges. Cost of living is the issue for many here [[big reason for our homeless population), and that's why some move away to places like NV, AZ and TX. Any Rivian employee moving from MI to SoCal will need a substantial bump in their salary. Someone earlier compared Irvine to Troy, I think a more realistic comparison is Irvine to Grand Rapids. Some suburbs here are massive, Long Beach has as many people as Atlanta, and Irvine has almost as many as St Louis. The LA metro population is about the same as all of MI, WI and IN combined, which makes it a heck of a lot easier to draw in talent. Plus people love their pickup trucks in SoCal

**DetroiterOnTheWestCoast** · June-25-20, 03:15 PM

Good for the Golden State!

**Satiricalivory** · June-25-20, 04:04 PM

Originally Posted by Luke09

We do have seasons in California, especially in NorCal,

Lets not play this game please, no you don't, not in your large cities and not like Michigan. You can't complain about Michigan winters and then turn around and act like you still have the same seasons and all they offer. I know the far north east corner of California is very seasonal, but that is a massive distance from Los Angeles. Like Michigan to Quebec.

Someone earlier compared Irvine to Troy, I think a more realistic comparison is Irvine to Grand Rapids.

They're nothing alike, Grand Rapids is an independent city and has a large old downtown and over a million people living there, Atlanta has 6 million people and an old downtown too. The way Irvine looks and is built and operates is not different than Troy.

And you're going to have zero problems getting engineering talent in Detroit. Detroit is the auto engineering capital of North America.

**DetroiterOnTheWestCoast** · June-25-20, 09:48 PM

Originally Posted by Satiricalivory

Lets not play this game please, no you don't, not in your large cities and not like Michigan. You can't complain about Michigan winters and then turn around and act like you still have the same seasons and all they offer. I know the far north east corner of California is very seasonal, but that is a massive distance from Los Angeles. Like Michigan to Quebec.
.

Actually, you don’t have to travel a “massive distance” in California to experience seasons. You just need to go to a higher elevation. Its not unusual for me to see winter snow in the mountains while sitting by my pool in Palm Springs.