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Manage to get your Rivian stuck or someone off-roading with you get stuck? A winch would sure be handy, and Rivian’s aware of that.
In Park City, Utah during a one-on-one interview on The Drivecast with the R2 launch as a backdrop, Rivian Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe told The Drive, “a winch is something we’ve long wanted to put on an R1.”
Listen to the entire conversation starting at the moment Scaringe addresses a winch on the R1 below.
We’ve seen patents Rivian filed with the United States Patent and Trademark (USPTO) office for a winch on the front of the R1, but to date, nothing’s come to fruition.
Scaringe explained, “You know, a winch is something we’ve long wanted to put on an R1. It is a bit challenging, though, because it’s a—it really impacts from a regulatory point of view, it’s, you know, it’s a challenge to put a big chunk of incompressible metal on the front of the car. So it affects crash and pedestrian protection.”
Rivian isn’t like Ford, it sells its vehicles directly to the consumer with no dealership middle men and very few third-part accessories offered. That makes things a little more complicated. “The way that historically happens is third parties do that work. And so the aftermarket can can do these things. Because we create our own accessories and we are the OEM, it is a bit more challenging. But we’ve thought about it a lot,” Scaringe said.
In February, Rivian introduced RAD, which is short for Rivian Adventure Department. It’s the automaker’s new in-house performance division. While Scaringe said RAD vehicles will be fundamentally different, the department won’t be limited to only vehicles.
“Coming back to RAD, I think there again, remember that discussion. I think there’s a lot of cool things that can come when we talk about RAD. We we the second word adventure, we intentionally use the word adventure department as opposed to like performance. The performance is an element of adventure, but adventure is a broader category, so that means that can enable a whole host of things. Things like winches,” Scaringe said.
When asked for clarity if RAD will be more than just vehicles Scaringe said, “Vehicles plus things that make the vehicles more exciting.”
For Rivian owners present and future, in the words of Lloyd Christmas, “so you’re saying there’s a chance.”
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As Director of Content and Product, Joel draws on over 15 years of newsroom experience and inability to actually stop working to help ensure The Drive shapes the future of automotive media. He’s also a World Car Award juror.
