You know its bad when these guys trash Rivian!

[zipityzi]

1. The lawsuit Laura filed against them and what her accusations were about how they were deliberately keeping listed prices low until after the IPO, knowing they could not produce vehicles at those prices.

They really look bad. I’m sure they could care less.

Damn. That'd be incredibly unethical. Was always rooting Rivian as solid force in the U.S. EV space, but the outlook looks weaker if Rivian's team is that mismanaged privately and it's only been six months.

Ars Technica quote seems to back that up:

Beginning in spring of 2021, Ms. Schwab started to raise the alarm about concerns she had relating to Rivian’s ability to deliver on its promises to investors. Shockingly, Mr. Behl dismissed her concerns and explicitly asked Ms. Schwab not to raise these issues in front of Mr. [RJ] Scaringe [Rivian’s CEO].

First, it was clear that the vehicles were underpriced, and each sale would result in a loss for the company. Ms. Schwab ultimately contacted Dennis Lucey, Rivian’s Finance Director, and worked with him to develop projections showing how much of a loss the company would incur if Rivian did not raise prices. Ms. Schwab raised this issue with several executives, including Mr. Behl, Stuart Dixon (Director of Product Management), and Andy Zicheck (Principal Product Manager). Mr. Behl brushed her off. Eventually, Mr. [Patrick] Hunt [then-senior director of consumer digital] raised the issue with Mr. Behl, at which point Mr. Behl agreed that they would need to raise the vehicle prices after the IPO.

The price increase can be spread out across longer loans or higher down payments, but if this is actually true (e.g., just an allegation in a lawsuit), holy wow, these folks are not interested in their customers. Companies in a desperate ploy to gain profitability are also not too interested in customer service.

If their straits are this dire, how many more tricks will Rivian need to pull to fix their significant miscalculations?

To the above comment: hell yeah, there are plenty of cars and other purchases that neatly fill in a 100k void no problem.

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[COdogman]

Damn. That'd be incredibly unethical. Was always rooting Rivian as solid force in the U.S. EV space, but the outlook looks weaker if Rivian's team is that mismanaged privately and it's only been six months.

Ars Technica quote seems to back that up:


The price increase can be spread out across longer loans or higher down payments, but if this is actually true (e.g., just an allegation in a lawsuit), holy wow, these folks are not interested in their customers. Companies in a desperate ploy to gain profitability are also not too interested in customer service.

If their straits are this dire, how many more tricks will Rivian need to pull to fix their significant miscalculations?

To the above comment: hell yeah, there are plenty of cars and other purchases that neatly fill in a 100k void no problem.

That is pretty much the question as far as I’m concerned - *if* I keep my reservation what is next from this company? My entire attitude towards them and how they do business has done a 180 in the last 48 hours. I certainly don’t trust them to actually deliver my truck on time and there was no promise to even lock in the new higher prices. Then there is the “membership” that will also cost money.… They could have handled this many other ways that would have preserved some of the good Branding they had done over the last 5 years. They chose the burned bridge approach.

 

[moosetags]

That is pretty much the question as far as I’m concerned - *if* I keep my reservation what is next from this company? My entire attitude towards them and how they do business has done a 180 in the last 48 hours. I certainly don’t trust them to actually deliver my truck on time and there was no promise to even lock in the new higher prices. Then there is the “membership” that will also cost money.… They could have handled this many other ways that would have preserved some of the good Branding they had done over the last 5 years. They chose the burned bridge approach.

You have very precisely described my position probably better than I could. I realize that the former stated price of a Rivian was a very good value, but it should be for an unknown and unproven start-up to establish itself.

We attended one of the Rivian expos in Denver in the summer of 2019. We met and spoke to RJ and several of his engineers. We were impressed with their resolve to produce a meaningful product that would benefit all concerned. We felt that they shared a passion as well as trying to establish a viable company. We were willing to take a chance because we felt good about the leadership and where they were heading.

The way in which they handled this massive price increase has flushed most of their customer good will down the toilet.

Brian

 

[Gwoj]

This isn't about making the world a better place, it's about business. Electric cars and trucks are cool because they have fewer moving parts and are quiet. That's why I'd buy one. But I am not deluding myself that this will save the planet. Think about all the energy used to build the thing, to source lithium, and fto build up a new more robust power grid.

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