Quad Motor $2000 price increase, now $8000!

[dleepnw]

I can see two possible things happening. The first is that Rivian has enough pre price hike reservations with the quad motor and post price hikes that will actually go through with the purchase at the new pricing to take their construction through 2023 and into 2024 that they won't bother producing the dual motor until then.

Second is that Rivian can get out their pre price hike orders halfway through next year and finds out that many of the post purchase orders cannot afford 110K for the quad motor and don't wind up going through the sale. 100K is a big threshold for most people when it comes to vehicle purchases. Plus most experts are predicting a recession based economy next year and I have a feeling that's going to bite into auto sales.

I have a feeling that there's going to be price corrections across the board as the demand bubble pops. Price hikes are putting vehicles, even ones who are luxury, into a whole different and exclusive class of buyers. Just like the super cars of the world that sell a fixed amount of units a year these high end EV's are approaching the price that only people who could afford to buy a Lambo or a G wagon can purchase. Heck, even Ford trucks at their top end trims are at that price. IDK who would spend 115K on a new Raptor R but that's what it's going to cost you.

theyve already said the dual motor wont be available until 2024

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[manitou202]

How is your business doing?
https://companiesmarketcap.com/automakers/largest-automakers-by-market-cap/

It's very rational that Tesla is worth more than all other automakers combined. /s

Might point exactly.

 

[dleepnw]

At the risk of making a series of sweeping and inaccurate generalizations my read on the EV truck market is this. Many if not most of the dyed in the wool truck enthusiasts (read their previous vehicle was a working pickup) will opt for the electric versions of established pickup manufacturers if they want to go EV. (Ford Lighting etc.) Rivian seems to strike a balance between utility and advanced features (adventure) that appeals mostly to the affluent and somewhat techy crowd. A small overlap with the 'working pickup' audience but more centered around relatively wealthy outdoor enthusiasts at present. Cybertruck on the face of it seems to be what you get when you take a computer engineer who has no real experience with actual truck usage and ask them to design a pickup that they think looks 'cool'. I suspect this truck will garner very little interest from the 'working truck' crowd and will steal very little market share from the 'outdoor adventure enthusiast' crowd and instead will appeal to the relatively high income 'please look at me and my truck' crowd. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder for sure, not my personal taste but that's why I'm on a Rivian forum not a Tesla forum. In terms of the 2 vs. 4 engine there's probably 2-4 years worth of demand from affluent customers with relatively low price sensitivity and after that Rivian will have to bring a product to market that is probably closer to the 50-70k range if it wants to continue to grow market share.

only thing is getting the price down isnt that easy. look at Tesla. they've been doing this for 12-13 years and they still aren't able to get and keep prices down. im not sure a $50-70K is realistic for at least 6-7 years if not more.

 

[ads75]

I'm surprised they have not tried to "buy out" quad motor reservation holders by offering the new "standard" 4x4/2 motor build at a discounted price. I would happily drop my quad motor for a dual motor if the price was right.

“Buy out” quad motor reservation holders? Rivian isn’t legally required to sell trucks at pre-March 1 pricing. At any time they can tell us that new pricing will now apply, no matter when we made our reservations. If they had a dual motor version available at the time, I think that’s what they would have done.

 

[Tall_Rider]

Why would they sell the CT at all if it's at a loss? How would that benefit the shareholders?

If they can't produce it at a cost that will turn a profit, why make it?

Businesses choose to sell products at a loss all of the time. It could be to gain or preserve market share, it could be that selling a product at a loss increases volume such that it makes it viable to keep a factory running. There are many potential reasons.

 

[NY_Rob]

Businesses choose to sell products at a loss all of the time. It could be to gain or preserve market share, it could be that selling a product at a loss increases volume such that it makes it viable to keep a factory running. There are many potential reasons.

Well, they don't need to preserve market share because they don't have any truck market presently.
The also don't need to produce more volume to keep Giga Texas busy... it's currently producing Model Y's as fast as it can. They recently produced their 10'000 model Y from Giga Texas with no stopping in sight.

So that only really leaves "to gain market share" which is something they really don't need to do either since they literally own the EV sedan market share and are selling every vehicle they can build with month's long waiting lists.

At this point in time I still believe that with no compelling reasons to do otherwise, they will not produce the CT to sell it at a loss.

 

[rivianguy]

Maybe close this thread out. Trending towards a discussion that isn't very productive.

 

[SeaGeo]

me too but again the only problem is we'd be waiting until 2024 at the earliest. not sure i can wait that much longer.

Personal opinion, but I wouldn't be surprised if they have them available sometime late 2023. It's key to managing their costs, the motor design is appartly done and the line has been in construction. Could he wrong, but it sounds like their providing conservative guidance on the timeline.

 

[dleepnw]

Personal opinion, but I wouldn't be surprised if they have them available sometime late 2023. It's key to managing their costs, the motor design is appartly done and the line has been in construction. Could he wrong, but it sounds like their providing conservative guidance on the timeline.

fair enough but i guess im basing it on the fact that its a self-imposed timeline/timeframe... and we know how often they hit those.

 

[SeaGeo]

fair enough but i guess im basing it on the fact that its a self-imposed timeline/timeframe... and we know how often they hit those.

Yeah, I was hesitant to wrote that out for that exact reason. Lol.

 

[mini2nut]

The money saved on a Cybertruck paint shop is a huge capital expense that won’t be necessary. No E-coat, rinse vat, baking cycle, pigment based color coat, clear coat, etc.

 

[The_Frog]

“Buy out” quad motor reservation holders? Rivian isn’t legally required to sell trucks at pre-March 1 pricing. At any time they can tell us that new pricing will now apply, no matter when we made our reservations. If they had a dual motor version available at the time, I think that’s what they would have done.

So maybe "buy out" is not the right term, but you know what I mean.

 

[Count Orlok]

I'd gladly pay the new price for quad if it means I get my delivery before I turn 104.

 

[atebit]

The money saved on a Cybertruck paint shop is a huge capital expense that won’t be necessary. No E-coat, rinse vat, baking cycle, pigment based color coat, clear coat, etc.

Yeah but they’ll make up for it in broken window costs. Especially because they’ll always try twice.

 

[Tahoe Man]

I just wonder how many folks are lining up for a $100k pickup from a new company....will be interesting once Toyota drops an EV pickup, etc.

Price increases work until they don't.
I'd increase prices too, everyone else is.

I have a feeling many buyers here are paying via stock market gains, so price increases aren't very painful, adding to the EV mania. Maybe next year at this time it will be a very different situation as the Fed slams on the brakes which is gonna cause much much pain.

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