Explore Package R1T and R1S No Longer Available

[sk00pie]

If you had a pre-March 1 order that could come back to bite you. R1 pricing has gone up and will likely continue. The higher that goes, the higher they can justify pricing R2. With Dual Motor and Standard Pack, should still expect to shell out $60k+ on an R2. Want more range and more performance? Expect to pay $15k on top of that. You could end up paying the same amount for less vehicle.

Post-March 1 Order? Yeah, maybe wait.

July 22 pre order! Father in law 12/21 he’s keeping

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[Aardvark]

I didn't sign a BPA last week because my R1S preorder was sub $80K... until today.
Question: What price is used by the IRS for the purpose of the new $80k limit? Is it vehicle, or vehicle+destination, or vehicle+destination+taxes?
I've reconfigured with a new paint color and removed a number of options that I guess I'll buy aftermarket. But if destination and taxes are included in the price test, I still have problems.

 

[AbhorViolence]

Nixing of the Explore package is just an undercover price hike. They learned their lesson from the last time.

No, I don't need vented seats, fancy headliner, fancy floor mats, or better audio. The only option I had were the tow hooks. That's not worth an additional $5000 anyways.

Incredibly frustrating waiting for this company to deliver while they continue to underwhelm even the lowest expectations.

Same situation for me. Explore + Tow Hooks. (Though I'm Max Pack bc I plan on towing a lot). I like the better audio on Adventure but that was never worth ~$5k to me. I don't care about the other stuff.

This is a $4500 price increase for me. After Rivian promised that pre March 1 order holders pricing would be honored.

It was already a major stretch for me to be able to possibly afford an ~80k vehicle in another year or so. This is a 5.5% price increase for me.

Also worth noting that this makes it impossible to have Max Pack and still end up under 80k should I decide to go with the new tax bill rebate instead of the old one ($100 agreement) that I just signed less than a week ago, just before this price increase.

I'm a stock holder so I'm rooting for this company but screwing over some of their earliest order holders - especially after already going through the whole March 1 debacle - really isn't a good look.

 

[sacramentoelectric]

How long do we think it will be until they cancel Max Pack for the same reasons? ?

 

[freshpow]

Same situation for me. Explore + Tow Hooks. (Though I'm Max Pack bc I plan on towing a lot). I like the better audio on Adventure but that was never worth ~$5k to me. I don't care about the other stuff.

This is a $4500 price increase for me. After Rivian promised that pre March 1 order holders pricing would be honored.

It was already a major stretch for me to be able to possibly afford an ~80k vehicle in another year or so. This is a 5.5% price increase for me.

Also worth noting that this makes it impossible to have Max Pack and still end up under 80k should I decide to go with the new tax bill rebate instead of the old one ($100 agreement) that I just signed less than a week ago, just before this price increase.

I'm a stock holder so I'm rooting for this company but screwing over some of their earliest order holders - especially after already going through the whole March 1 debacle - really isn't a good look.

I can understand the frustration for Explore pre-orders, but this is NOT a "price increase". I can see how it might feel that way, but the Adventure trim is much more costly to produce and you're getting significantly more for your $4,500 even if the extras may not be worth $4,500 to you personally.

Consider yourself lucky that you signed the BPA - not sure in what scenario you would prefer to use the new tax credit vs. the old. I can't think of one.

 

[Gamma rays]

I can understand the frustration for Explore pre-orders, but this is NOT a "price increase". I can see how it might feel that way, but the Adventure trim is much more costly to produce and you're getting significantly more for your $4,500 even if the extras may not be worth $4,500 to you personally.

Consider yourself lucky that you signed the BPA - not sure in what scenario you would prefer to use the new tax credit vs. the old. I can't think of one.

I am an Explore trim reservation holder that made the switch to the Adventure trim after receiving the official email. I agree it's not a price increase even though the upgrades are certainly not worth it for me (why else would I have ordered the Explore trim and agreed to a later delivery date?). My only hope is my spot in the production queue is now "restored" to where I would have been had I ordered the Adventure trim all along.

GR

 

[Atlrivian]

I expected they'd do this since there didn't seem to be any effort to figure out what the explore package would look like or include/not include (i.e. no prototypes, etc.). They might do the same to the manual tonneau too (especially if there's truth to talk of a redesign and new materials for it this fall), and maybe even to the dual-motor (I don't doubt that they're making a dual-motor setup, but they may relegate that to the R2 line instead of complicating the R1 line; with no more budget R1 trim it makes sense that they'd just have one premium line and one budget line to start with).

And with all the other changes they're making (OC, floor mats, kitchen, etc.), unless you're just along for the ride and don't really care when you get your truck or what exactly it looks like/includes, it really makes sense to only configure the things that Rivian is actually making right now. Nothing else is set in stone, especially if there's no prototypes and no hint of production whatsoever.

I suspected moves like this after months of dead quiet. That's why I changed my order multiple times and got rid of (in order) Max pack, Explore, and manual tonneau. And now I have a truck!

 

[Kieran]

Rivian is simply trying to reduce vendor and production line complexity. I’m surprised they offer 3 different interior colors.

Tesla has done similar things over the years. From 2016-2020, they continually reduced the number of options available, making the stock model S more and more premium. However, it also became a better and better deal at the same time, as the price increase of the "base" was much smaller than the value of the "newly standard" options added to the base config. So it kept customers happy. Of course that all went out the window when prices skyrocketed due to the pandemic supply chain mess we're in that started in mid-2020. Right before that, Elon reduced the price of the base Long Range Model S to $69,420 (his two favorite numbers combined) in response to Lucid saying they'd sell their base sedan for $70k. If anyone got a LR model S for $69420 during that brief window, they got a HELL of a bargain.

 

[Biturbowned]

I am an Explore trim reservation holder that made the switch to the Adventure trim after receiving the official email. I agree it's not a price increase even though the upgrades are certainly not worth it for me (why else would I have ordered the Explore trim and agreed to a later delivery date?). My only hope is my spot in the production queue is now "restored" to where I would have been had I ordered the Adventure trim all along.

GR

This was my situation also. I kind of wanted the sound system as I’m kind of a stickler for sound quality and the ventilated seats and passenger seat lumbar were also really nice to have. Ultimately I think all this email did for me was force me to make a decision I was likely already going to make about 2 months sooner than planned. At the end of the day, I’m sure I’m going to love it the upgrade, but I like to be the master of my own domain.

 

[AbhorViolence]

I can understand the frustration for Explore pre-orders, but this is NOT a "price increase". I can see how it might feel that way, but the Adventure trim is much more costly to produce and you're getting significantly more for your $4,500 even if the extras may not be worth $4,500 to you personally.

Consider yourself lucky that you signed the BPA - not sure in what scenario you would prefer to use the new tax credit vs. the old. I can't think of one.

Yeah I realize I'll be getting more for the additional $4500 and I appreciate that but it's not what I wanted, or what I signed up for (literally as of last week with the "binding" agreement - which it turns out actually isn't binding now in my case).

My preferred config if I were to go El Cap (vs Forest Green, still deciding) and powered tonneau vs manual (I'll probably just go manual bc I'm afraid the powered will break), is $88,475.

At current pricing the same exact config is $109,630.

That's 24% more.

So I realize I'm getting a great "deal" and the value is probably unparalleled. If that weren't the case I wouldn't be considering this vehicle. But the reality is it's going to be very difficult for me to pull off, even more so now with Explore no longer an option.

 

[AbhorViolence]

Don't forget about this thing, the DIY max pack: https://www.thedrive.com/news/37583...e-bed-mounted-battery-pack-for-extended-range

Wait till they announce in a couple more months that all "Max Pack" orders will actually just be getting something like this. ?‍

 

[Cobalt262]

Just got my Explore "Dear John" email from Rivian. Not happy with the extra $5k bump in price.

 

[Atlrivian]

I can understand the frustration for Explore pre-orders, but this is NOT a "price increase". I can see how it might feel that way, but the Adventure trim is much more costly to produce and you're getting significantly more for your $4,500 even if the extras may not be worth $4,500 to you personally.

Consider yourself lucky that you signed the BPA - not sure in what scenario you would prefer to use the new tax credit vs. the old. I can't think of one.

Usually companies don't offer a product for less than it costs to produce. So it stands to reason the Adventure trim has at least the same margin (if not more) than Explore. By this logic Rivian will end up with higher margins and more satisfied stockholders (if not vehicle buyers).

 

[sevengroove]

Yeah I realize I'll be getting more for the additional $4500 and I appreciate that but it's not what I wanted, or what I signed up for (literally as of last week with the "binding" agreement - which it turns out actually isn't binding now in my case).

My preferred config if I were to go El Cap (vs Forest Green, still deciding) and powered tonneau vs manual (I'll probably just go manual bc I'm afraid the powered will break), is $88,475.

At current pricing the same exact config is $109,630.

That's 24% more.

So I realize I'm getting a great "deal" and the value is probably unparalleled. If that weren't the case I wouldn't be considering this vehicle. But the reality is it's going to be very difficult for me to pull off, even more so now with Explore no longer an option.

My advice to Explore pre-order holders who don't want to upgrade to Adventure is this: upgrade anyway, flip your vehicle on the open market for a profit, and bank that for a new R2 reservation that will be at or under the outgoing R1 Explore price.

 

[AbhorViolence]

Optimistic way to look at it is your delivery date is moving up and you'll definitely get a Rivian. Ultimately, it likely won't end up costing you much of anything, because it will also be worth more (perhaps additional interest). Price does not equal cost, unless you plan to be buried in it.

Directly from the email:

"Please note that switching to Adventure will not automatically result in an earlier delivery window."

Sounds to me like they're making this change just to try to manage to fulfill their _current_ delivery goals (25k vehicles this year, most current preorders delivered by end of 2023). Not actually move them up.

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