Rivian in Europe when?

[crashmtb]

two words: import duties. By doing cdk you “make the car made in Europe” of some sort, reducing the import tax. In cases like this is also done to add specific items related to local regulations: rear view mirrors, lights, reflectors; and to perform specific regulatory tests. It would cost a lot of money to ask suppliers in the us to do the parts and then ship them assembled or modify the assembly line (logistic flows) for such a low volume. Instead, source locally, avoid changes to your main production and increase your European coefficient….

Regulatory modifications are generally done at port or if at the factory, offline. Much more common than CKD especially now. With the volumes of R1 vehicles rivian would sell in EU compared to North America(small!) it wouldn’t make sense to set up a CKD operation.

Specialist importers will cover that market, as is done now with American pickup trucks. If people who really, really want, say, a Ram 3500 in EU are willing to go through the absurd hoops and high costs of importing those, the same will happen with Rivian.

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[Rlorenzoa]

With a difference: you cannot buy a RAM from Dodge in Europe. Whereas Rivian announced they want to sell them here… Remeber in Europe we buy through brand dealers, always. Let me give you an example, the first teslas in Europe where ckd kits assembled in Tilburg (NL).
if you want to sell volume in Europe is a good way to start (10% import duty off). Think that in Europe we pay VAT on cars (21% in NL) and then we pay different taxes depending on the country (registration/luxury/etc). Avoiding the 10% import tax is a way to stay competitive.
and even if the car is expensive, in countries like NL where road tax is heavily penalizing big gas/diesel SUVs, an electric car is a good value proposition. Compare the defender against an electric Rivian: in NL the defender p400 would pay VAT (21%), bpm (54000 eur) and 16k in road tax during 8 years. Basically 60k more than the Rivian because the Rivian pays no bpm or road tax because of being electric.
it’s a good business case that Rivian surely wants to exploit. I can’t wait to have them here