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Mysterious electric vehicle startup, Rivian Automotive closes deal on massive manufacturing facility in Illinois
Michigan-based electric vehicle startup, Rivian Automotive, just closed its purchase of the Mitsubishi Motors North America facility in Normal, Illinois. Records show that the factory was first purchased by liquidation firm, Maynards Industries, in June of 2016 for $2.5M, not including machinery, before Rivian’s recent acquisition for an undisclosed amount. The electric car upstart plans to invest $40.5 million into the factory over the next five years and begin vehicle production in 2019.
Rivian Automotive first began discussions with the town and factory owner in mid-September, before announcing on December 9 that they had entered into an agreement to purchase the facility. The Town of Normal gave the company an incentive package, including a five-year tax abatement and a $1 million grant contingent upon the hiring of approximately 1,000 workers and a $175 million investment into the site through 2024.
(Photo: Rivian)
“We had all but given up hope on a buyer for the Mitsubishi Plant,” Mark Peterson, Town of Normal City Manager, said in a report to the Mayor and the Town Council. Based on records received from the Town of Normal, it is evident that city officials spent countless hours working on the deal.
“As a community, we are thrilled that Rivian has chosen us. It is incredibly rare that a major manufacturing facility in Midwest shutters and then finds new life,” said Town of Normal Mayor Chris Koos in a comment to Teslarati.
The company was founded in 2009 as Mainstream Motors in Florida and later changed its name to Avera Automotive, before becoming Rivian Automotive in 2011. They relocated their operations to Detroit Michigan in Fall 2015 after receiving financial backing from an undisclosed investor. Until today, Rivian Automotive has been operating in stealth mode. The company has launched a newly refreshed website announcing their presence within the electric car space.
The Mitsubishi Factory that Rivian Automotive purchased (Photo: Rivian)
Rivian’s new website claims, “Rivian is developing a flexible electric platform that will underpin our launch portfolio. Our vehicles are being optimized around the electric architecture to deliver outstanding performance, efficiency, packaging, durability and safety.”
Mitsubishi Motors built the facility in 1988 in a joint partnership with Chrysler Corporation and then became the sole operator of the plant in 1991. The 2.4 million square-foot plant is capable of producing over 240,000 vehicles per year and sits on over 500 acres of land. In 2012, Mitsubishi invest over $100 million into the plant to produce the new Mitsubishi Outlander Sport. Due to disappointing sales, Mitsubishi announced the closure in August 2015 and ceased operations in May 2016.
Mitsubishi Motors Factory in August 2015 (Photo: Christian Prenzler)
The chances of success are slim in the automotive sector, but Rivian’s acquisition of the plant gives them a competitive advantage over others. While would-be competitor Faraday Future struggles to finance construction on their North Las Vegas factory, Rivian already has a manufacturing facility that requires relatively little capital to bring back to a production-ready state.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TloizFWADNw
Rivian Automotive was unable to be reached for comment.
The Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council did not return our request for comment.
Elon Musk
Tesla removes Autopilot as standard, receives criticism online
The move leaves only Traffic Aware Cruise Control as standard equipment on new Tesla orders.
Tesla removed its basic Autopilot package as a standard feature in the United States. The move leaves only Traffic Aware Cruise Control as standard equipment on new Tesla orders, and shifts the company’s strategy towards paid Full Self-Driving subscriptions.
Tesla removes Autopilot
As per observations from the electric vehicle community on social media, Tesla no longer lists Autopilot as standard in its vehicles in the U.S. This suggests that features such as lane-centering and Autosteer have been removed as standard equipment. Previously, most Tesla vehicles came with Autopilot by default, which offers Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer.
The change resulted in backlash from some Tesla owners and EV observers, particularly as competing automakers, including mainstream players like Toyota, offer features like lane-centering as standard on many models, including budget vehicles.
That being said, the removal of Autopilot suggests that Tesla is concentrating its autonomy roadmap around FSD subscriptions rather than bundled driver-assistance features. It would be interesting to see how Tesla manages its vehicles’ standard safety features, as it seems out of character for Tesla to make its cars less safe over time.
Musk announces FSD price increases
Following the Autopilot changes, Elon Musk stated on X that Tesla is planning to raise subscription prices for FSD as its capabilities improve. In a post on X, Musk stated that the current $99-per-month price for supervised FSD would increase over time, especially as the system itself becomes more robust.
“I should also mention that the $99/month for supervised FSD will rise as FSD’s capabilities improve. The massive value jump is when you can be on your phone or sleeping for the entire ride (Unsupervised FSD),” Musk wrote.
At the time of his recent post, Tesla still offers FSD as a one-time purchase for $8,000, but Elon Musk has confirmed that this option will be discontinued on February 14, leaving subscriptions as the only way to access the system.
Tesla has initiated Cybertruck deliveries in a new region for the first time, as the all-electric pickup has officially made its way to the United Arab Emirates, marking the newest territory to receive the polarizing truck.
Tesla launched orders for the Cybertruck in the Middle East back in September 2025, just months after the company confirmed that it planned to launch the pickup in the region, which happened in April.
I took a Tesla Cybertruck weekend Demo Drive – Here’s what I learned
By early October, Tesla launched the Cybertruck configurator in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, with pricing starting at around AED 404,900, or about $110,000 for the Dual Motor configuration.
This decision positioned the Gulf states as key early international markets, and Tesla was hoping to get the Cybertruck outside of North America for the first time, as it has still been tough to launch in other popular EV markets, like Europe and Asia.
By late 2025, Tesla had pushed delivery timelines slightly and aimed for an early 2026 delivery launch in the Middle East. The first official customer deliveries started this month, and a notable handover event occurred in Dubai’s Al Marmoom desert area, featuring a light and fire show.
Around 63 Cybertrucks made their way to customers during the event:
First @cybertruck deliveries in the UAE 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/sN2rAxppUA
— Tesla Europe & Middle East (@teslaeurope) January 22, 2026
As of this month, the Cybertruck still remains available for configuration on Tesla’s websites for the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other Middle Eastern countries like Jordan and Israel. Deliveries are rolling out progressively, with the UAE leading as the first to see hands-on customer events.
In other markets, most notably Europe, there are still plenty of regulatory hurdles that Tesla is hoping to work through, but they may never be resolved. The issues come from the unique design features that conflict with the European Union’s (EU) stringent safety standards.
These standards include pedestrian protection regulations, which require vehicles to minimize injury risks in collisions. However, the Cybertruck features sharp edges and an ultra-hard stainless steel exoskeleton, and its rigid structure is seen as non-compliant with the EU’s list of preferred designs.
The vehicle’s gross weight is also above the 3.5-tonne threshold for standard vehicles, which has prompted Tesla to consider a more compact design. However, the company’s focus on autonomy and Robotaxi has likely pushed that out of the realm of possibility.
For now, Tesla will work with the governments that want it to succeed in their region, and the Middle East has been a great partner to the company with the launch of the Cybertruck.
Tesla has officially launched public Robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, without a Safety Monitor in the vehicle, marking the first time the company has removed anyone from the vehicle other than the rider.
The Safety Monitor has been present in Tesla Robotaxis in Austin since its launch last June, maintaining safety for passengers and other vehicles, and was placed in the passenger’s seat.
Tesla planned to remove the Safety Monitor at the end of 2025, but it was not quite ready to do so. Now, in January, riders are officially reporting that they are able to hail a ride from a Model Y Robotaxi without anyone in the vehicle:
I am in a robotaxi without safety monitor pic.twitter.com/fzHu385oIb
— TSLA99T (@Tsla99T) January 22, 2026
Tesla started testing this internally late last year and had several employees show that they were riding in the vehicle without anyone else there to intervene in case of an emergency.
Tesla has now expanded that program to the public. It is not active in the entire fleet, but there are a “few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors,” Ashok Elluswamy said:
Robotaxi rides without any safety monitors are now publicly available in Austin.
Starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors, and the ratio will increase over time. https://t.co/ShMpZjefwB
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) January 22, 2026
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
The Robotaxi program also operates in the California Bay Area, where the fleet is much larger, but Safety Monitors are placed in the driver’s seat and utilize Full Self-Driving, so it is essentially the same as an Uber driver using a Tesla with FSD.
In Austin, the removal of Safety Monitors marks a substantial achievement for Tesla moving forward. Now that it has enough confidence to remove Safety Monitors from Robotaxis altogether, there are nearly unlimited options for the company in terms of expansion.
While it is hoping to launch the ride-hailing service in more cities across the U.S. this year, this is a much larger development than expansion, at least for now, as it is the first time it is performing driverless rides in Robotaxi anywhere in the world for the public to enjoy.
Tesla removes Autopilot as standard, receives criticism online
Tesla begins Cybertruck deliveries in a new region for the first time
