Nearly two years after launching production of its electric pickup trucks and SUVs in downstate Normal, Rivian is planning to open its first showroom in Chicago.

       California-based Rivian has leased a 5,160-square-foot space at 871 N. Rush St. in the Gold Coast, called Space, where consumers and the EV-curious can kick the tires on the automaker’s inaugural R1T and R1S models.

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       Rivian’s Chicago showroom is set to launch in September, following a similar opening in New York City last month. Space showrooms are also set to open in Vancouver, British Columbia, next week and Seattle in August. The first Space showroom took flight in Venice Beach, California, in October 2021, one month after Rivian began production in a converted Mitsubishi plant about two hours south of Chicago.