Is Rivian getting desperate?

[rlawsoncrew]

This seems like a list of things a company does as it gets its, uh, stuff together.



1. Offer product to consumers. (Do a lot of car companies succeed by strictly limiting offerings and making customers wait a long time?)

2. Leasing. Um, similarly, we want them to make it easy to buy the car. Should Rivian say they will only accept payment in gold bullion?

3. If better residuals allow a lower lease price, amen.

4. They’ve added a lower-end offering, thereby expanding the product line. As MidnightRivian noted, this gives them a good offering for those considering the EV9.

Could Rivian fail? Maybe, but thus far, they seem to be in the sweet spot. Ford dials back on the F150 and doesn’t bring out an SUV. Tesla has Elon baggage and the perfect truck for 1985. Lucid built a minivan. And GM (saddled by difficulties with Ultium) and Ram are increasingly thinking PHEVs for now. Meanwhile, Rivian is refining their products and getting ready for the R2.

Those may or may not be indicators, but the last info I saw was they still are not covering variable costs by tens of thousands $s. That is a huge indicator of really serious issues. Giving away money on every car sold could draw there bank down pretty significantly. Not sure how much cash they have left, they have been ripping through cash.

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[NineElectrics]

Availability in store means they are increasing capacity and reducing quality errors.

My personal experience is that the store cars are not defect free, though better than the first 1000 VINs. I wonder if they're cars which were rejected at delivery time.

 

[NineElectrics]

Could Rivian fail? Maybe, but thus far, they seem to be in the sweet spot. Ford dials back on the F150 and doesn’t bring out an SUV. Tesla has Elon baggage and the perfect truck for 1985. Lucid built a minivan. And GM (saddled by difficulties with Ultium) and Ram are increasingly thinking PHEVs for now. Meanwhile, Rivian is refining their products and getting ready for the R2.

Even if demand falters, Rivian will not fail. There is plenty of capital out there to bail out an EV car company. Rivian's cost cutting measures are all about preventing stock dilution and maintaining executive compensation, not preventing failure. Look at Lucid and Fisker--still alive! At worst, they will have to slow walk or give up on the Georgia factory.

 

[Khaos]

The R2 platform may be getting announced soon but those cars won't roll off the line until 2026 likely. If that's the case, Rivian still needs to figure out R1 pricing in the meantime. I don't think they are priced to sell right now to the mainstream public at their current price point. At teh end of the day, I think the R2 should compete price-wise with the MY and the R1 with the MX.

 

[HeyEllwood]

I bought our MY at like $60k or whatever the high point was. Still owe $32 I think on it? Can’t even sell it to break even now. Which was the plan when we got out R1S. However, the Tesla is a solid daily driver.

 

[Whatever_this_is]

I bought our MY at like $60k or whatever the high point was. Still owe $32 I think on it? Can’t even sell it to break even now. Which was the plan when we got out R1S. However, the Tesla is a solid daily driver.

Yeah intentional or not Tesla is really killing the EV market for new cars as people like us don’t want to buy high sell low.

 

[defcon888]

In the last few weeks Rivian did the following for R1S in fairly quick succession:
1. Open shop to general public
2. Leasing
3. Drop in lease price
4. Releasing Standard+ for free

I’m guessing there’s a real mismatch between supply and demand at current prices. Personally, I'm going to hold out until things stabilize, as it feels that these demand levers haven’t/won’t do enough to hold them over until R2 release. I’ve been burnt by Tesla on the MY discount fiasco before and don’t want a round 2.

I think Rivian is finally fitting into their clothes so to speak. They started off clumsy, and goofy and made mistakes. But they learned at every turn and put that into their knowledge base.

I think the recent change with Rivian is that they finally are in the flow and can spread their wings out and offer different options. Get back to me in 5+ years and if they are still doing things like this, I would be surprised. They are going up against stiff competition and are making headway. If you think about it, Besides the F150 Lightening, Rivian is the only other EV truck out there.....NO CYBERTRUCK isn't a truck... it's an abomination. Rivian saw a niche market and made something to fill it and made an amazing vehicle.

 

[bmcenaney]

In the last few weeks Rivian did the following for R1S in fairly quick succession:
1. Open shop to general public
2. Leasing
3. Drop in lease price
4. Releasing Standard+ for free

I’m guessing there’s a real mismatch between supply and demand at current prices. Personally im going to hold out until things stabilize, as it feels that these demand levers haven’t/won’t do enough to hold them over until R2 release. I’ve been burnt by Tesla on the MY discount fiasco before and don’t want a round 2.

So if releasing the already planned, lower capacity, lower price battery pack in 2024 like they sasaid lasand keeping the models that already exist the same price is "desperate", what is truck month? Ford, Chevy, GM, RAM, are always advertising thousands of dollar cash incentives to buy their trucks? What is Tesla doing by slashing the price and killing their profit margins?

In the last few weeks Rivian did the following for R1S in fairly quick succession:
1. Open shop to general public
2. Leasing
3. Drop in lease price
4. Releasing Standard+ for free

I’m guessing there’s a real mismatch between supply and demand at current prices. Personally im going to hold out until things stabilize, as it feels that these demand levers haven’t/won’t do enough to hold them over until R2 release. I’ve been burnt by Tesla on the MY discount fiasco before and don’t want a round 2.

How is releasing the less expensive product that was promised in early 2024 desperate? They didnt pull a Tesla by slashing prices across the board. They aren’t running “truck month” ads promising big discounts on you Ford F-150 for an entire football season.

The current large pack dual and quad models are the exact same price they were before they released the smaller battery packs. They just opened up the brand to a group that currently was out priced. , You can even add some better tires and change the color on the standard pack truck and remain eligible for half the federal refund. Sounds like a good business decision to me.

 

[Epicloop]

I think the R2 should compete price-wise with the MY and the R1 with the MX.

Even though they are more versatile/capable vehicles? I don't think the vehicle class is the same.
The Tesla's are not exactly adventure vehicles.
Would a Cyber Suv be the same price as the model X?

 

[sillyME]

I was hoping that Rivian still offers free home charger and installation if ones decide to purchase from the shop inventory, but after chatting with the customer service, I was confirmed that this promotion was no longer available. I was thinking about buying a 2nd r1 DM variant for the family.

 

[CharonPDX]

If your primary requirement is "seats 7 people" the EV9 is available for $20,000 less than the R1S.

The fact that the *TOP TRIM* EV9 is $1000 cheaper than the *BASE TRIM* R1S just shows that they aren't even targeting the same market.

 

[Supratachophobia]

If your primary requirement is "seats 7 people" the EV9 is available for $20,000 less than the R1S.

The fact that the *TOP TRIM* EV9 is $1000 cheaper than the *BASE TRIM* R1S just shows that they aren't even targeting the same market.

I disagree. Most of the different features are apples and oranges personal preferences and not deal breaking decision factors. Deep down it's between two 7 seater electric SUVs that go 300 miles, that's it.

 

[Yossarian]

Not at all. Rivian is trying to get all the 150K purchase prices served first and feathering in the odd pre order holder here and there. They actually said this in the last quarterly call go listen. They need to close the negative revenue per vehicle in future reporting and if they keep selling pre order holders that won’t happen. If they need the delivery number to go up then pre order holders will get calls from rivian. At least that’s my guess.

My personal experience is that the store cars are not defect free, though better than the first 1000 VINs. I wonder if they're cars which were rejected at delivery time.

I'm an early pre-order holder and am seeing much more promotional email from Rivian than was the case in the past. I'm sure that a big part of the reason is a push to get as many deliveries as possible before the planned shutdown. Most of the emails I receive are aimed to get me to buy from the R1 Shop, which makes sense as 1) the vehicles are already made and 2) most are quite a bit higher than my grandfathered pricing. I consider all of this pretty normal for a company with a rapidly maturing product, and not in any way a sign of desperation.

My last communication with a Rivian Guide was a bit disconcerting however. I was trying to confirm pricing to see about adding an option and staying below the $80k threshold, but was told that I was already well above that. I sent a copy of the pricing summary from my Rivian config page and asked for a reconcilliation, but haven't yet heard back. Hopefully my account page is right and the quide (my 5th) is just confused.

 

[Epicloop]

I disagree. Most of the different features are apples and oranges personal preferences and not deal breaking decision factors. Deep down it's between two 7 seater electric SUVs that go 300 miles, that's it.

A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive.
EV9 is a station wagon
Rivian > EV9

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

The R1S now starts at 75k and I would argue the base standard pack R1S gives the EV9 a run for it's money. The EV9 doesn't look anywhere near as fun as a Rivian and it's a Kia. Their tech is great but their interiors wear out very quickly especially anything light colored.

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