At big automotive events like Monterey Car Week or the major Barrett-Jackson sales it's not uncommon for automakers to auction off special versions of their cars for charity; sometimes this can be the first or last production unit of a specific model, or some sort of custom one-off spec designed just for the sale. Ferrari recently built an additional unit of its Daytona SP3 to benefit its own charity, which surely ticked off some of the existing owners who were promised their car would be one of 599, not one of 600.
The latest automaker to get in on this trend is Rivian, and the American EV startup is doing it in a big way. Its design team came up with the R1S Pebble Beach, which is based on the new Quad variant that packs 1,025 horsepower. This one-off SUV not only has a unique color, wheels and upholstery, but it's even got special cork trim and a number of gradient finishes, all inspired by the Monterey Peninsula. This 2026 R1S Quad Pebble Beach is being auctioned off tonight at Hagerty's Broad Arrow auction — it's just too bad the proceed's are going to a charity fundraiser run by MrBeast.
Read more: These Should Be The Next Mail Trucks When The Post Office Gets Privatized
Inspired By Morning Light
Rivian developed a new color called Monterey Silver just for this R1S, which it says captures "the soft, golden, and quietly powerful light of a morning over Monterey Bay." The company says the paint is meticulously applied in a four-stage process, and that it "shimmers with the depth that evokes the reflective qualities of liquid metal." I do think the paint looks quite nice — I own a gold car myself, so I've gotta be a fan of beige — and it seems like the color shifts a lot depending on the light conditions.
Cooler are the 22-inch forged wheels that were also designed just for this car, featuring a three-tone finish. Rivian painted the body cladding, and the badges, window trim and other exterior accents are finished in Burnished Bronze, which is one of the three shades in the wheels along with the Monterey Silver. The brake calipers are painted the same Laguna Blue color as other R1 Quads. Rivian says the Pebble Beach car has unique exterior light animations, though it doesn't give any details.
Inspired By The Sunset, Too
There's a lot more special stuff going on inside. The company calls the color scheme Coastal Canvas, which pairs a tan headliner with off-white Pebble Stone Adventex upholstery, both colors that not offered on normal Rivians. The seats have a unique perforation pattern with an orange checkered center stripe, and the door panels have the same woven look. There are textiles made from a sustainable cork blend, and the wood trim is made from spalted oil ash wood, which has dark marbling created by a fungal infection when the tree was alive — chief designer Jeff Hammoud told MotorTrend wood like that would normally be rejected for a production model, but for a one-off like this it adds character.
Blue stitching and other bits tie in the brake calipers, but the real color is found on the speaker grilles, sisal floor mats, integrated flashlights and other accents, where Rivian applied a gradient finish inspired by the way the sun fades into the ocean. The ombre effect blends teal blue with a subtle gold and a bright orange-y red, which happen to also be the colors of the Rivian Adventure Department skunkworks crew — they're the ones who ran an R1T up Pikes Peak. Different methods like anodizing, dyeing and painting were used depending on the material to keep the gradient looking uniform across all the car's components.
Crossing The Auction Block Tonight
The R1S Quad Pebble Beach will cross Broad Arrow's auction block at the Monterey Jet Center tonight, August 13. The car has no reserve applied to it, so whoever is the highest bidder will win. When Rivian first announced the one-off and related sale, it made no mention of where the money would go, but now we know that all proceeds will be donated to #TeamWater, which is a "creator-led crowdfunding campaign" that aims to provide two million people with access to clean water by raising $40 million. This fundraiser was started by YouTubers Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson and Mark Rober, following their previous collaborative fundraisers that aimed to plant trees and clean the oceans.
Obviously it's great that this money will be going to charity, and access to clean water is something that everyone on Earth deserves, but really, MrBeast? The guy who's been in hot water for many of his past charitable acts and videos that border on exploitative, at the very least? #TeamWater says that all of its donations will go directly to WaterAid, a very real organization, but also to other unnamed "charitable partners." It would feel less icky if the proceeds from this sale went straight to WaterAid instead of going through MrBeast first, but hey, if more people do end up getting clean water because of this, I guess it's a win regardless.
Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox...
Read the original article on Jalopnik.
Comments