Paint Cost

[RivianCivilian]

Small Question: Why are the paints priced differently? Shouldn't it all be the same price? I can't imagine that Rivian Blue is that much higher cost to make than Forest Green or Glacier White? It just doesn't make sense.

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[kozak79]

?‍ Mine is Glacier White and was a free paint option when I ordered it. Now it's extra.

 

[RivianCivilian]

Probably just a choice by Rivian bc I've seen more people buy the green, red, and blue so maybe Rivian could profit more

 

[Dark-Fx]

Paints cost different amounts of money to produce. Paint with metallic flakes are more expensive than paints without.

 

[COdogman]

My silver paint was "free" and I assumed it was made from actual silver. If that isn't true I will need to contact my lawyer about litigation.

 

[edman007]

Very common obviously profit line item. They make a few exclusive colors and make people pay extra for it. They don't cost any meaningful difference to make (dealing with the batching is probably the biggest cost).

Don't like it, fine, you can have the default color.

 

[R1Thor]

Different paint chemistry absolutely costs different. Some use different types of minerals or elements in order to achieve their colors. Depending on paint finishes, there's also layering involved (though I don't think that's the case for large scale manufacturing--they likely 'dip' these large parts)

It also has to do with volume and changeover. If you make 50% of your vehicles in a specific color, it's easy enough to roll that into the cost. If you have to spend a day or so to drain the tank, clear all of the pneumatic hoses, purge and swap nozzles and fittings and jigs and fixtures, then refill and recalibrate color, it's now more expensive to make the 'lower volume' paint simply due to the added man hours (labor) involved to do so.

When it comes to things like additives (metallic flakes for example), they typically have to mix those in, so that's a calibration step. AND they can become problematic to cause flow issues that need resolved more often (more labor, and potentially more parts swapped out).

It's not trivial.

For what it's worth, practically every single manufacturer does this (or has some premium colors they charge for). This is not abnormal.

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