How A Hyundai Lawsuit Was Responsible For The Rivian Brand’s Name

After making waves with the launch of the R1T and R1S, Rivian is now in the process of rolling out its mass-market offering, the R2. We’ve already driven it, and we think it’s very good indeed. So good, in fact, that we argued that it looks to be the best EV at its price point so far. It also represents a critical point for the company, since its CEO, RJ Scaringe, has made no secret of the fact that he’s relying on the R2 to push Rivian into becoming a household name.

If everything goes according to plan for the company, plenty more drivers will be finding out about Rivian in the coming years, although most of them won’t be aware that Rivian operated for around a year under a different name. Speaking to the How I Built This podcast, Scaringe recounted how a lawsuit from Hyundai was responsible for Rivian’s current name, as the South Korean carmaker took issue with its original name, Avera.

When Scaringe founded Avera in 2009, he originally intended the company to be a sports car manufacturer. He managed to construct a prototype sports car focused on fuel efficiency, but eventually decided that the company needed to go in a different direction. With funds still very limited at the time, Scaringe had little choice but to change the name after Hyundai sued the company in 2010. The complaint alleged that the Avera name was too similar to the name of Hyundai’s flagship sedan, the Azera.

Scaringe told the podcast that “we said, okay, we’re not gonna fight Hyundai and use the very small number of dollars we have to fight over a name that very, very few people around the world had ever even heard of.” Instead, the founder and his team spent hours brainstorming other names for the company, eventually settling on Rivian.

The name was a portmanteau of the words “river” and “Indian,” because he’d grown up near the Indian River in Florida. The team reportedly chose the name because it was easy to say and didn’t mean anything in any other language. Plus, having a name based on the word river brought connotations of flowing and moving, according to Scaringe.

Settling on Rivian meant that Scaringe was happy and Hyundai was happy. Hyundai continued to sell its Azera sedan in America until 2017. The launch of its upmarket Genesis brand led to the nameplate being axed in the U.S., although Hyundai later launched a new generation of the Azera in other markets.

After its rebrand, Rivian would later disappear from the radar for a number of years as the team worked to develop the technology behind its current lineup. It built its first prototype truck in 2013, but continued to rework the design for several years until it finally settled on the design that would become the R1T. It remains on sale today, with the latest iteration of the R1 offering remarkable levels of power while still being comfortable both on the road and off-road.