Rivian emails employees about R2 Employee Delivery Program for Launch Editions

[CharonPDX]

Not really fair to assume the R1 launch will be a 100% indicator for the R2. The company was/is in very different place then vs now.

True, but they are ramping up volume production of a new vehicle with completely separate parts than the R1, so it makes sense to simplify as much as possible the early builds. Paint can have many options because the paint booth is basically the same across different vehicles. Upholstery is unique to the vehicle.

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[Viking80]

Did anyone notice the difference in rear seat stitching patterns and the rear window bump feature between Black Crater and Black Crater Signature? I assume the black crater render is old?

 

[godfodder0901]

Did anyone notice the difference in rear seat stitching patterns and the rear window bump feature between Black Crater and Black Crater Signature? I assume the black crater render is old?

It might be accurate. The Signature is known to have different stitching. And the non-Signature is only available in lower trim without the roll down rear window, which would allow for a more traditional wiper mount. This could be the difference we see.

 

[TemporarilyOutofStock]

I’m pretty sure the rear window bump on the standard is because the rear window doesn’t roll down and the wiper is on the outside versus tucked in below like the premium/performance trims.

Did anyone notice the difference in rear seat stitching patterns and the rear window bump feature between Black Crater and Black Crater Signature? I assume the black crater render is old?

 

[RivianRiverRat]

It might be accurate. The Signature is known to have different stitching. And the non-Signature is only available in lower trim without the roll down rear window, which would allow for a more traditional wiper mount. This could be the difference we see.

Heated vented seats different from non

 

[the.phd]

Heated vented seats different from non

rear aren't vented, but heated.

 

[Juantana]

I just don’t get why black for so many car companies. Too dang hot!

I kinda liked that off-white mixed interior scheme, it wasnt all bright white like the Tesla white interior.

 

[zakool21]

I loved my bright Tesla interior. It made it feel so much larger than the black interior. I'm a little bummed I won't be able to get a LE R2 with light interior, but I can manage.

 

[mellowthecat]

I will be ordering black crater signature regardless of whether I get a launch edition or not. Way easier to keep clean and stain free

 

[VSG]

I will be ordering black crater signature regardless of whether I get a launch edition or not. Way easier to keep clean and stain free

You do know Black is going to get just as dirty? Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's clean. In fact Black will probably stay dirtier on average, because out of sight out of mind. Dark vinyl always reminds me of cheap diners where you can't see the dried up (or worse, not dried up) ketchup etc. crusted on the booth seats - it's easier to pretend/hope it's clean. But it's not.

Same with rental cars - they tend to be dark interiors in my experience because that tends to hide the lousy cleaning job the rental companies do. Again, I guess it lets you pretend the dirt doesn't exist, but I'd rather *know* it's clean.

Regardless, my Ocean Coast interior still looks brand new after 3.5 years of using my R1T as an adventure vehicle - hiking, camping, etc. with a dog, and in a wet climate. No staining of any sort. And the interior stays a lot cooler than a black interior, and I don't burn myself on the hot vegan vinyl either.

Pick what you like, but recognize it's personal preference. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean a light colored interior is bad.

 

[mellowthecat]

You do know Black is going to get just as dirty? Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's clean. In fact Black will probably stay dirtier on average, because out of sight out of mind. Dark vinyl always reminds me of cheap diners where you can't see the dried up (or worse, not dried up) ketchup etc. crusted on the booth seats - it's easier to pretend/hope it's clean. But it's not.

Same with rental cars - they tend to be dark interiors in my experience because that tends to hide the lousy cleaning job the rental companies do. Again, I guess it lets you pretend the dirt doesn't exist, but I'd rather *know* it's clean.

Regardless, my Ocean Coast interior still looks brand new after 3.5 years of using my R1T as an adventure vehicle - hiking, camping, etc. with a dog, and in a wet climate. No staining of any sort. And the interior stays a lot cooler than a black interior, and I don't burn myself on the hot vegan vinyl either.

Pick what you like, but recognize it's personal preference. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean a light colored interior is bad.

my daughter rides horses. As soon as we clean it, it is going to get dirty again on one trip to the barn. Also red clay and light upholstery does not mix well. Hidden is better than the eventual stain

 

[VSG]

R1 launched with no light interior color. It didn't get Ocean Coast until nearly a full year after the first deliveries. Even the "mid-tone" Forest Edge wasn't available for a while. If you wanted an early R1, you got the black interior.

That's a mischaracterization.

The R1 was PLANNED to launch with the Ocean Coast interior, but Ocean Coast didn't ship immediately only because they ran into manufacturing problems with the light colored wood. Rivian eventually had to pivot, fast, to redesign the interior to use dark wood and modify their contracts and delivery timelines to get the new items from the suppliers. And it wasn't "nearly a full year", it was just 6 months. It was a lot of extra expense and time to fix the manufacturing problem (which was probably the supplier's inability to produce the light wood at an acceptable quality). It took several (?) years after that for Rivian to come up with an alternative light-wood Ocean Coast interior.

Forest Edge interiors shipped early, way before the redesigned Ocean Coast. If there was a delay, it was no more than two months and not clear whether that would have been deliberate and planned or again a manufacturing problem with the wood since the lighter wood can't hide color variations like the black-stained wood. Forest Edge was (originally) the only interior with an upcharge, and IMO doesn't match well with a lot of the exterior colors, so the take rate was much lower than the free Black Mountain and Ocean Coast interiors.

So implying that the R2 is following the same pattern as the R1 is not correct, unless you're implying that they're planning to have the same sort of manufacturing problems and COVID-era supply chain problems that they did with the R1. Regardless, the wood trim is entirely different for the R2 and they presumably learned a lot about this from the R1 experience and aren't going to run into similar problems, so I don't think you can assume that the light interior is inherently a problem.

If anything, Rivian might be streamlining manufacturing just so they can push out a large number of vehicles as fast as possible - producing only two exterior colors and one interior color initially (for a month or two?) before they open up other interior/exterior color choices. But we won't know for sure until Rivian states this officially or opens up the configurator so we can actually see what our choices are and how those choices affect delivery timelines.

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