Where is the supposed inventory glut & my order?

[Pauhana99]

Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster. I have had an order for a R1T dual performance large since June 6th slated for delivery "September-October" and meanwhile I have been watching these threads and the shop inventory.

It was with some curiosity and bemusement that I read the thread and watched the YouTube video commenting on the alleged 3,000 units of unsold R1 inventory. Supposedly, the trolls claim, Rivian has a demand problem, not a parts problem and therein lies the issue with Rivian lowering sales estimates.

Well, as someone looking to potentially swap out my custom order with an already-built shop order, there is but a single performance-dual available in nationwide inventory today and I count only 30 R1T in total available nationwide. -Now I know some sub-markets have vehicles, but maybe this is another 30-40 trucks according to Rivianroamer.com. So where is the inventory-glut issue? Seems hard to believe there is a lack of demand when I see the shop inventory turn daily and without much depth of stock.

Meanwhile, I'm frustrated. I considered swapping my performance dual large R1T for a performance dual max which is obviously more costly, but alas the last one available close to my build options was taken this morning. So, I am back to waiting for the build.... Even with the production slowdown, is there a particular day of the week that Rivian populates the shop with new vehicles more than other days?

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[edman007]

There is no inventory glut, in fact it's the opposite, they have a parts supply issue and announced they are scaling back production.

I think it's highly likely that they start prioritizing more expensive builds due to this.

 

[R1Tom]

There is no inventory glut, in fact it's the opposite, they have a parts supply issue and announced they are scaling back production.

I think it's highly likely that they start prioritizing more expensive builds due to this.

They should pull all incentives if this is truly the case.

 

[Pauhana99]

The only incentives I see are on the R1S right now? That said, all manufacturers are subventing most EV leases right now.

 

[Pauhana99]

There is no inventory glut, in fact it's the opposite, they have a parts supply issue and announced they are scaling back production.

I think it's highly likely that they start prioritizing more expensive builds due to this.

It’s the part supply issue that the trolls are pointing to as really being a demand problem.

 

[R1Tom]

The only incentives I see are on the R1S right now? That said, all manufacturers are subventing most EV leases right now.

Existing owners have an incentive of $3500 I believe. But why subvent leases if you have an extended production problem where supply can't meet demand?

 

[Rivian Roamer]

Rivian appears to prefer shop inventory over custom orders for some reason.

 

[R1Tom]

Rivian appears to prefer shop inventory over custom orders for some reason.

I suspect some form of batching, building what you have material for, etc... maybe their supply channels are not fully reliable (or maybe their ability to communicate with suppliers like current wire issue) so they build what they can and hope people will buy those rather than exactly what they want, which with those issues I mentioned, would make it really hard to tell customers accurate build times.

I have ordered almost all my vehicles as custom build over the past several decades and in each case the dealer has always been pretty accurate on how long it would take and came thru with that predicted time. I have felt Rivian really should perfect that process too. And then even cooler would be to allow customer to see it move thru assembly in certain locations when being built via cameras in plant, etc...

 

[Hereforthesnacks]

They should pull all incentives if this is truly the case.

If it’s a temporary production issue, I suspect keeping incentives in place is less confusing and frustrating for the customer than yanking and reinstating.

 

[Pauhana99]

Existing owners have an incentive of $3500 I believe. But why subvent leases if you have an extended production problem where supply can't meet demand?

Unfortunately I am not an existing Rivian owner so no incentive for me. I guess I am the unicorn buyer that is interested without such cajoling -I just want specific options and one would think Rivian would try to fill orders like mine first before creating stock inventory. -That said, I also would not purchase an EV. I would only lease such a depreciating asset as all EVs are. The subventing is occurring in part because demand as a whole and prices are high on a relative basis. One could argue that Tesla has been subventing their leases almost since day one.

 

[bfilippo]

Yes there was a miscommunication with a parts manufacturer leading to a significant supply bottleneck and I suspect what others above have said is true, they will now push the highest end models to deal with it and custom orders may be quite some time.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...hobbling-its-ev-output?embedded-checkout=true

 

[Rivian Roamer]

I suspect some form of batching, building what you have material for, etc... maybe their supply channels are not fully reliable (or maybe their ability to communicate with suppliers like current wire issue) so they build what they can and hope people will buy those rather than exactly what they want, which with those issues I mentioned, would make it really hard to tell customers accurate build times.

I have ordered almost all my vehicles as custom build over the past several decades and in each case the dealer has always been pretty accurate on how long it would take and came thru with that predicted time. I have felt Rivian really should perfect that process too. And then even cooler would be to allow customer to see it move thru assembly in certain locations when being built via cameras in plant, etc...

I'd likely agree.

And thus why I'm working on building inventory alerts for any pending orders you have. The number of people who have reached out to me and told me they used Rivian Roamer to find their exact vehicle they had a pending order for seems way too high.

So, I'll just build it.

 

[Pauhana99]

I suspect some form of batching, building what you have material for, etc... maybe their supply channels are not fully reliable (or maybe their ability to communicate with suppliers like current wire issue) so they build what they can and hope people will buy those rather than exactly what they want, which with those issues I mentioned, would make it really hard to tell customers accurate build times.

I have ordered almost all my vehicles as custom build over the past several decades and in each case the dealer has always been pretty accurate on how long it would take and came thru with that predicted time. I have felt Rivian really should perfect that process too. And then even cooler would be to allow customer to see it move thru assembly in certain locations when being built via cameras in plant, etc...

I have seen several R1Ts come through with all of my options except one. The missing option was different each time. Evertime I saw that, I sort assumed, “gee, my config must be right there with this stock truck since it is so close etc…”

 

[Pauhana99]

Also, it does seem like Rivian is prioritizing R1S production as there is much more stock in the SUV than the Truck. Is that a function of demand or parts?

 

[Cascadian]

Looking on the Bright Side:

I might get my NACS adapter sooner

Less Gen 2s cluttering up service centers

A chance to improve factory quality

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