R1T & R1S Updated Pricing, Configuration, Specs. Dual Motor Now Available

[COdogman]

My frustration as a stockholder is that rivian invested heavily in building a brand that was interested in a relationship with its customers (a good smart thing to invest in). Their prospectus talks about making more from monthly memberships and things that are dependent upon good will than they do on the sale of the vehicle. I fear they just burned all the goodwill they worked so hard to build, and they burned it with the most valuable customers who have shown they want that relationship.

If you assume 70k reservations, maybe you lose half, half stick with you and pay the extra $15k on average, that's about $500 million. Lots of money, but after pulling in 20x that in their IPO, if I were CEO, I'd eat that cost to buy the goodwill, brand positivity, word of mouth, etc. I fear Rivian just made their biggest error so far, and I say that as a stockholder more than a customer.

I totally see your point of view on that, and agree with you. Rivian severely damaged their brand by doing this the way they did and that also betrays many people like yourself who were investing in that brand just as much as you were a business. I suppose my point was strictly about the business side of it. As a business owner myself I worry every time we have to raise prices that we will lose customers but I have also learned that we can’t survive as a business without raising prices and investing that money back into our business and our people.

Rivian did something worse IMHO with the way they handled this whole thing. They didn’t just remove goodwill - they turned their biggest fans into enemies that will now probably never consider them or recommend them to anyone else. All I can figure is they knew that would come and they just wanted to tear the band aid off. It sucks.

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[opnwide]

Worst part is, even if you can afford your LE going from $78k to $97k, the Rivian hate is now real. I fear keyed vehicles, nasty notes on the windshield, and an embarrassment to drive a vehicle from a company that has put customer service second. The shine is gone.

 

[AceSal10]

Welp, I am glad I kept my Model Y preorder "just in case". My build, like many others, went from $81K to $98K. Pretty, pretty steep... [said like Larry David]

 

[André]

1. No Obligations
Each Preorder you submit for a Vehicle acts as a deposit for a future purchase of the Vehicle. You are under no obligation to purchase a Vehicle from us, and we are under no obligation to supply you with a Vehicle.

These Terms do not constitute an agreement for the sale of a Vehicle and do not lock in pricing, a firm production slot, a firm delivery date, or specific Vehicle configuration. To complete the purchase or lease of a Vehicle, you will need to execute Rivian’s standard Order Agreement and Agreement to Purchase (“Final Sales Agreement”) which will include additional terms and conditions, including the final price sheet for the vehicle you ultimately select (“Your Selected Vehicle”). The Order Agreement and Final Sales Agreement may be made with another Rivian entity. Additional payment for You Selected Vehicle, including taxes and other governmental fees, will be required at that time.

We may decline Preorders to avoid over-subscription or as we deem appropriate in our sole discretion. If your Preorder is declined, you will be notified and your Preorder payment will be refunded.

 

[YouDrive]

Bye

 

[MadMac]

Is this what they meant by under promise and over deliver? Asking for a friend.

 

[Spiffster]

Worst part is, even if you can afford your LE going from $78k to $97k, the Rivian hate is now real. I fear keyed vehicles, nasty notes on the windshield, and an embarrassment to drive a vehicle from a company that has put customer service second. The shine is gone.

LOL, Wut?

 

[bd5400]

They likely just pivoted. They realized they could not sell all the reservation cars at price with current supply prices increasing. So they are going to sell the premium versions higher a la Tesla and work on a high volume low option version in a year or two and that's where they'll succeed.(if they do)

I'm pretty sure that's always been the plan. The Georgia plant is not being built to increase R1T and R1S capacity. The Georgia plant is going to be mass producing the lower cost models. The R1S and R1T are the Model S and Model X of Rivian. They are desirable high-end models, but they were never going to make up the bulk of Rivian's sales in the long-run because of their price point.

 

[DaveA]

Companies blame everything but themselves. First it’s Covid (blame the Chinese). Then it’s supply chain (due to Covid). Then it’s inflation (blame our federal government). Hey RJ! Blame the Russian war on Ukraine because that’s the next flavor of excuses. How about “WE at Rivian Screwed up but we do not care because RJ is a billionaire”. The real truth. I’m putting $250 of my $1,000 on Fisker Ocean.

They have 50 prototypes/testing models on the line with an established builder. Fisker is turning out to be the one EV startup to rule them all and actually be profitable in a very short amount of time.

 

[7cupholders]

I am thinking I will keep my reservation until I have to sign on a virtual dotted line and then cancel.
String them along like they did us.....

Don’t forget to ask for 1,200 bucks back because of — the result of inflationary pressure on the cost of supplier components (booze) and raw materials (also booze) across the world-
Thank you again for being on this journey with us.

— Team Rivian (Bozos)

 

[cc84]

I'm definitely scared to comment here ?

But before I share, I just wanted to say that I feel for everyone affected by the price increases. Even if you knew it could happen, it sucks to hear this so close to delivery - especially if you need a new vehicle or got rid of you old one.

I got very, very lucky.

Thanks very much Carter. I believe I can safely say we're all happy to see some of you getting the original pricing. My comment below is certainly not meant to take away from your joy. It's the way I view Rivian's handling of this situation. I do realize they had the complete right to change the pricing, but....

To me, what Rivian did by allowing a few to have the lower pricing is a slap in the face. Looks like we're also making up for some discounts employees received.

When Rivian started accepting preorders back in Nov 2018, they should have been building their parts inventory, steadily gathering all materials necessary to hold pricing steady. If they didn't want to build their inventory, they should have at least increased the pricing on their configurator, at regular intervals. As an example, lump 2018 and 2019 together at the original price, increase the price on 2020 orders, increase the price on 2021, increase the price on 2022, etc.

Instead, Rivian waited until the last minute and chose to increase the pricing for everyone at once, over a 3 year period, as if they never had any materials in stock. If they did have any materials in inventory, purchased at a lower cost, then they're making quite a bit more on the vehicles, than just the increase you see on the configurator. I haven't made up my mind yet as to what I'll do, but ever since May, my opinion of Rivian has gone down. I have seen them make misleading statements and tell half-truths.

All these great things you see Rivian accomplishing and wanting to accomplish, by the way, is at our expense. We are buying into RJ's vision as well as financing it. I'm sadly disappointed, after waiting over 3 years. I can only hope they do the right thing.

 

[ssiminou]

I got an email saying pricing has been updated...they promised they'd send out an email after announcing the price increase, so at least they kept one promise!

 

[bd5400]

Accounts have been updated. I just got the second email telling me my configuring pricing has been updated.

Note that they have NOT automatically equipped a tonneau cover option in the updated R1T configurations so the new price shown isn't accurate if you want one of the options.

 

[DaveA]

Fisker? I think people are forgetting that most EV startups are going to fail. Fisker is definitely on my death watch page…

Then you haven't been watching very closely. Lucid and Rivian have to sell a shittastic load of vehicles to even get to profitability because of massive debts building from scaling. Fisker is using already established tier 1 builders with no overhead.

 

[BoisVert]

Sweet Jesus. So an Adventure with Quad motors (original config) and 300+ range (original config) is now $90K?

If that’s the case, I’m out.

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