LDV Deliver 9 vs Rivian R1T

What's the difference?

There are currently 14 rivals competing for customers in the Light Duty or LD (3501-8000kg GVM) segment of Australia’s heavy commercial vehicle market. Business buyers and fleet operators are thick on the ground here and competition for their business is fierce.

Chinese brand LDV, a division of the huge SAIC Motor conglomerate which is now the seventh largest automotive company in the world, recently joined this battle with its new Deliver 9 van range that’s priced to entice. We spent a week aboard one to see how LDV’s claim of superior value stacks up when there’s work to be done.

Tesla started from nothing to become one of the most recognisable brands across the automotive industry in less than two decades. Rivian is hoping to do the same.

If you haven't heard of Rivian that's okay, it's currently only available in the US market. It shares a lot in common with Tesla, though - a charismatic founder and CEO, a focus on electric vehicles and plenty of hype around the brand.

To find out if the hype is justified, CarsGuide.com.au was able to organise an exclusive preview drive of the brand's R1T electric pick-up in Los Angeles recently. The R1T is one of two models Rivian has entered the market with, the other is the R1S large SUV.

This is a far cry from company founder RJ Scaringe's original vision, the R1 - a mid-engined hybrid coupe sports car. Instead, Scaringe switched focus to the pick-up and SUV markets, which provided a much larger audience and helped attract investment from the Ford Motor Company and Amazon to get the company up and running on an industrial scale.

Rivian is still a few years from making it to Australia, but make no mistake, the company has been committed to global expansion for years. As far back as April 2019 a company representative told CarsGuide it believes there's a good opportunity for the R1T and R1S to find an audience in Australia.

So, with that in mind, we drove the R1T to find out if it has what it takes to make its mark with Australian ute buyers.