Rivian – the prospective makers of insanely quick and brilliantly cool adventure-EVs – has announced that it will build an all-electric vehicle for Lincoln, the luxury branch of Ford Motor Company.

What form that vehicle will take is still to be announced, but we do know that it’ll be based on Rivian’s existing skateboard platform. Lincoln has a penchant for SUVs too, so that would surely be the most sensible direction. An all-electric Navigator anyone?

Rivian’s platform was first unveiled with the R1T pick-up and the R1S SUV back in November 2018, both of which were accompanied by some seriously impressive stats. We were promised a choice of battery sizes; 180kWh for 640km of range, 135kWh for 480km and 105kWh for 385km. We were also promised a 147kW electric motor in each wheel, 0-95km/h in 3.0 seconds, 0-160km/h in under seven and a top speed of 200km/h. Crikey.

Those numbers were enough to impress Ford, who announced an investment of US$500m in the Michigan-based startup last year. We now know the fruits of that investment will be this collaboration with Lincoln, and that whatever vehicle is produced will sit alongside the Mustang Mach-E and the all-electric F-150 in Ford’s EV lineup.

So, what do you reckon Americans – would you buy an electric Lincoln?

STORY Greg Potts