Official Rivian Email: A Look Ahead to 2023. Rivian Membership cancelled and unbundled into subscription services

[s4wrxttcs]

The nickel and diming begins.

Rivian listed as many as 18 ways to monetize Rivian owners in their run up to the ipo.

Soon we’ll pay for new modes, motor upgrades (in dualies), media options, LTE, RAN charging… what else? More to come no doubt.

It’s like Office365 and Adobe had a baby with wheels.

I don't mind paying for things that have a cost to them, and deliver a lot of value.

LTE has a reoccurring cost to Rivian, but the way its currently implemented doesn't have a lot of value. The Navigation is rather poor, and has no way to report incorrect info. The streaming media has nothing free. They could at least bundle Spotify Premium with a connectivity charge.

RAN charging I don't mind paying for at all. Sure it would nice to get credits that didn't expire, but it has a lot of value if one is on your route.

Sponsored

 

[R1Tom]

Frer charging incentivizes folks to charge at fast chargers rather than at home. Make it more expensive than home charging is the way to keep the fast charger available

I agree. For all I care, for the handful of times a year I use public chargers, I'd be good with $1/kwh. Keep them open and not always plugged full of people.

 

[s4wrxttcs]

Is RAN even available to non-Rivian vehicles?

Not yet, but I imagine Rivian will need to open it up to non-Rivian vehicles to get federal money.

 

[bummin]

I believe Rivian will tread lightly with much of this. There has to be a balance of profitability and continued growth. You can't charge 100k for a vehicle and expect to nickel and dime people to death for everything in the car, everyone will bail on the company. So far MFG'S are looking to test the boundaries of this business model. Mercedes is looking to offer a subscription for more power on some vehicles, Dodge is looking to sell power upgrade modules in their new Speed Shops they want to install in dealerships.

None of us want reoccurring fees to keep what we once had, and for many this is the most expensive vehicle you have ever purchased. The payments on 80k suck, the insurance siphons off more money like a leech, and charging prices are all over the map when you travel all over the map. There is a fine line between real value and just ripping people off, however the line is different for everyone. My perceived value may be a total waste for some, and visa versa. I myself am taking the wait and see approach, OK Tony forced this on us, but still. Rivian is not about to shoot themselves in the foot and risk a collapse over the Nickel & Dime approach, but just like they did with the price snafu of Mar 22, they will push our buttons a bit and see how far we are willing to go. I want to see Rivian succeed, but as good as this vehicle is, there is a point in my mind where the value is over and the door has opened for a new MFG to grab my attention, and wallet.

 

[hilld]

That is not how it currently works. Not to say that it can't, but it doesn't.

I just tested this and it does NOT work to play media. After consulting the manual, the 2 USB ports in the console are indeed for data use, but right now that is restricted to store data from the gear guard video recordings.

Perhaps many of us should submit improvement requests to Rivian. What is the exact process for this?

 

[hilld]

I believe Rivian will tread lightly with much of this. There has to be a balance of profitability and continued growth. You can't charge 100k for a vehicle and expect to nickel and dime people to death for everything in the car.

Tell that to BMW.

 

[GHuff]

Perhaps many of us should submit improvement requests to Rivian. What is the exact process for this?

Complain on forums like this and reddit.

 

[ads75]

Tell that to BMW.

BMW isn’t just testing their customers with subscriptions, but also their latest designs.

 

[srwaxalot]

Oh I remember that! Honestly I’m fine with it. And every carmaker is going to be doing this so I don’t see the point in hammering Rivian for something everyone else will be doing in short order. And I can choose whether I want to pay for Driver + or not (I won’t).

But once again there is confusion around Rivian’s communications, which is just par for the course. Seems like this announcement could have at least come with some actual menu of features we will be able to choose from Instead of just telling us that we will be paying and still not knowing for what exactly.

It seems they don’t know what the features and cost is going to be this is just a trail ballon.

 

[hilld]

BMW isn’t just testing their customers with subscriptions, but also their latest designs.

The designs grow on you. :-D

But to their credit, the iX drives like a dream. Certainly a lot more comfortable than the R1T. I know, I have both. But each vehicle has their own purpose.

 

[SASSquatch]

I'm annoyed about the charging ending in April as well, but this company can't keep bleeding cash and expect to survive. More revenue streams are needed, so it is what it is.

Pay the Man! Rivian is burning through cash at an alarming rate and they simply won't build their way out of that hole because they can't scale fast enough. They need to find ways to start monetizing so I'm OK with them charging for those services. They did say they would breakout certain features of the membership so you can pick what you want which is smart.

This isn't unusual in the luxury car market. BMW charges me $50 a year just to use the Apple Car Play already built into my car!

 

[SASSquatch]

The nickel and diming begins.

Rivian listed as many as 18 ways to monetize Rivian owners in their run up to the ipo.

Soon we’ll pay for new modes, motor upgrades (in dualies), media options, LTE, RAN charging… what else? More to come no doubt.

It’s like Office365 and Adobe had a baby with wheels.

I think that is a bit harsh. The luxury vehicle industry milks just as bad, if not worse. BMW charges me $50 a year to access the Car Play already built into my car.

Tesla charges for their premium wireless.

Either Rivian gets more cash from customers or they have t raise cash by selling stock (diluting shares) or borrowing at a high interest rate, or selling off equity - which ultimately hurts the company long term a lot more than getting more money out of customers.

As long as Rivian is reasonable - I don't want to pay more than $10 or $15 a month for the things I care about (updates, LTE, navigation) I think this is par for the course for a new company.

 

[RWerksman]

Ugh. Every time I somehow forget about the Rivian communications team being hopeless they somehow pop back up with more knuckle headery.

More service centers!
Great. You already told us about this. And made a map. Nothing has changed on the map in months. Thanks also for reminding us about the change in towing policy - that sure was welcome!

Membership!
What even is this, "membership" you keep vaguely referring to? I have no concept if going ala carte is good or bad or if the, "membership" is crappola or okey-dokey considering there is no pricing associated with it either way. It's literally Schrodinger's Membership. I guess I should just wait 11 days to figure it out?

Meetings!
Cool. I'm so glad that Rivian is being efficient in how it spends customer outreach money. These are both convenient and meaningful to me. I can totally see how these are the differentiating factor on why people choose Rivian over the boatloads of competitors in the market also selling these commodity products.

Charging!
I most-def need to drive 2000 miles away to use the closest one. The destination-equivalent RAN charger on the OBX has had a big bag over it's head for over six months now. I would have rather had free charging KW on EA. They aren't awesome, but at least they have more than 0 fast chargers east of the Mississippi.

 

[MaskedRacerX]

I just tested this and it does NOT work to play media. After consulting the manual, the 2 USB ports in the console are indeed for data use, but right now that is restricted to store data from the gear guard video recordings.

Perhaps many of us should submit improvement requests to Rivian. What is the exact process for this?

At least they're data ports, and with all the electronics unified through a central control system ("ECU"), that's almost assuredly just a software update.

Of course they actually have to do it, but at least it's not like Tesla where they removed the data controllers for those ports (they're just for charging now). I have a '21, still have data, so can use them as a media source - it works OK, lots of little issues like cover art, playlists, etc. I finally just got a sub to Spotify for convenience, that also works, OK, lots of delayed sync issues when you create new playlists, add favorites, etc., from another source (like a phone or desktop app), but the quality is pretty solid, as much as I need in a car.

 

[RWerksman]

If they delivered all of the same things that Tesla does, I'd be down.

As it stands, the only thing that Rivian includes which is Premium from Tesla is the traffic visualization and the sat maps. That feels like a really, REALLY hard sell for $10-20 a month.

Sponsored