Doug DeMuro Can't Stop Praising R2

[renderpaz]

Doug DeMuro elaborated more on the R2 on his podcast. He said he is even more positive on the R2 as time has past.

"I think that probably the best EV i've ever been around"



Starts at 8m if my link doesn't work

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[sparked]

Did he review the BMW iX3 and the Volvo EX60? Can't give much weight without comparing to all of the vehicles coming out at the same time.

 

[lefkonj]

IX3 will be the big deal if the pricing lines up. While they have slightly different purposes someone buying a 65k SUV will shop both.

 

[mkhuffman]

What did he say about the Gravity?

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

What did he say about the Gravity?

Said it's a design failure.

 

[VC_Rivian]

IX3 will be the big deal if the pricing lines up. While they have slightly different purposes someone buying a 65k SUV will shop both.

I saw it in person at CES, it’s very nice.

 

[KRG]

The R2 having like 200hp more than the iX3 at launch is a big deal I think. We’ll see.

 

[Time2Roll]

What did he say about the Gravity?

I saw my first Gravity in the wild today. Seemed sleeker and lower profile than I had expected. Did not really have the SUV look.
My preference is still with the R1S. I believe R2 would also be my choice.

 

[Ingen]

He mentioned something I’ve been thinking: R1S sales will fall when R2 comes out. And if Tesla’s trajectory is any indication, R1S may eventually go the way of Model X in a few years - meaning discontinued. There’s basically two factors that will keep R1S alive: 1) people who want 3 rows/7 seats and 2) Those who want to go more off-road than the R2 can handle.

For the first group, I think the R2 platform is flexible enough to shorten to make an R3, it’s probably flexible enough to stretch to make a 3 row R2. Again, it’d be like what Tesla did in China: make a longer Model Y with 3 rows.

And for the 2nd group, people who want to go even more off-road than the R2 can handle, will probably go to the Scout Traveler… unless Rivian makes the R1S even more rugged in Gen 3 (locking diffs, full size spare tire carrier, etc.), but there’s not a large market for that level of off road capability, so I don’t think they’ll go that way.

 

[LordPasta]

At some point I would like to imagine they would make a dumbed down version of the R1 to allure more shoppers, but it really depends on the pricing of the R2 and how close they would be. R1 with just dual motor, no air suspension, no brembo brakes, smaller wheel package, etc for like 65k would be awesome.

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

At some point I would like to imagine they would make a dumbed down version of the R1 to allure more shoppers, but it really depends on the pricing of the R2 and how close they would be. R1 with just dual motor, no air suspension, no brembo brakes, smaller wheel package, etc for like 65k would me awesome.

I think the issue that they will start running into with R1 is how complex a vehicle it is to manufacture at low volumes when R2/3 begin to cannibalize sales.

R2 is very optimized for manufacturing efficiency and cost. R1 is very not optimized for those things and you'd effectively have to redesign the entire vehicle to change that.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

He mentioned something I’ve been thinking: R1S sales will fall when R2 comes out. And if Tesla’s trajectory is any indication, R1S may eventually go the way of Model X in a few years - meaning discontinued. There’s basically two factors that will keep R1S alive: 1) people who want 3 rows/7 seats and 2) Those who want to go more off-road than the R2 can handle.

For the first group, I think the R2 platform is flexible enough to shorten to make an R3, it’s probably flexible enough to stretch to make a 3 row R2. Again, it’d be like what Tesla did in China: make a longer Model Y with 3 rows.

And for the 2nd group, people who want to go even more off-road than the R2 can handle, will probably go to the Scout Traveler… unless Rivian makes the R1S even more rugged in Gen 3 (locking diffs, full size spare tire carrier, etc.), but there’s not a large market for that level of off road capability, so I don’t think they’ll go that way.

I think the R1 taps more into the Range Rover crowd. With the RR EV being 180K, there's room for Rivian at the higher end. The Range is what I'd be driving if Rivian didn't exist.

 

[mkhuffman]

I think the R1 taps more into the Range Rover crowd. With the RR EV being 180K, there's room for Rivian at the higher end. The Range is what I'd be driving if Rivian didn't exist.

I'm with you. There is a market for high end vehicles and Rivian has a decent share of it now. They do need to make the R1 more profitable, but providing a product for the higher end of the market is a worthwhile strategy. It's why Ford has Lincoln and GM has Cadillac.

 

[Bullwinkle]

He mentioned something I’ve been thinking: R1S sales will fall when R2 comes out. And if Tesla’s trajectory is any indication, R1S may eventually go the way of Model X in a few years - meaning discontinued. There’s basically two factors that will keep R1S alive: 1) people who want 3 rows/7 seats and 2) Those who want to go more off-road than the R2 can handle.

For the first group, I think the R2 platform is flexible enough to shorten to make an R3, it’s probably flexible enough to stretch to make a 3 row R2. Again, it’d be like what Tesla did in China: make a longer Model Y with 3 rows.

And for the 2nd group, people who want to go even more off-road than the R2 can handle, will probably go to the Scout Traveler… unless Rivian makes the R1S even more rugged in Gen 3 (locking diffs, full size spare tire carrier, etc.), but there’s not a large market for that level of off road capability, so I don’t think they’ll go that way.

Model X was always a weird car. Audi supports Q5 and Q7….BMW X3, X5 and X7.

 

[Redline]

I think the R1 taps more into the Range Rover crowd. With the RR EV being 180K, there's room for Rivian at the higher end. The Range is what I'd be driving if Rivian didn't exist.

100% the same thing for me.

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