Rivian Weekly Responds - 7/30/23

[LL75]

We aren’t even halfway thru summer.

Kids in Texas are going back to school next week. Feels like summer is over to me

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[emoore]

Kids in Texas are going back to school next week. Feels like summer is over to me

I’m sure. But still doesn’t mean summer is over.

 

[R1Tom]

We are all early adopters. This is the main price you pay to be an early adopter - and no, waiting a year for a fix isn’t “beyond early adopter”. If you’d prefer to wait, you could have. Those who have the broken power tonneau - that sucks, but at least you’re driving your T. You could easily sell it, likely with no loss, and wait for the new tonneau if that’s your big need.

Don’t mean to sound unsympathetic, but I’ve had sub 500 VIN Tesla S and X and they both had plenty of issues.

Just curious.....in your opinion....when does "early adopter' period end? I find this comment interesting and how long people feel a company is in its period where all buyers should be aware they are buying an unproven vehicle from a company that may take a long time to correct deficiencies.

 

[Zoidz]

Just curious.....in your opinion....when does "early adopter' period end? I find this comment interesting and how long people feel a company is in its period where all buyers should be aware they are buying an unproven vehicle from a company that may take a long time to correct deficiencies.

IMO, with a vehicle this complex, 2 - 3 years until all the issues come to light, are resolved, re-engineered and implemented on the production line.

 

[R1Tom]

IMO, with a vehicle this complex, 2 - 3 years until all the issues come to light, are resolved, re-engineered and implemented on the production line.

I concur on this. The part I am more surprised by isn't that problems exist, but rather that it takes so long to implement a fix for a problem like this. I am sure they would have been quicker if it had been a issue that made them undriveable, and I get that. But as an "early adopter" I was hoping for more urgency on Rivians part to get the "early adopters" issues fixed, since the "early adopters" are also the "influencers" out in the community and it would seem you would want those all to be ecstatic about Rivian in that role.

 

[defcon888]

Hint to Rivian: it’s mid-summer now. Where’s the power cover replacement?

We ordered the tonneau cover and we knew the power wasn't an option but they are supposedly sending out the manual ones now.....but as of today.....we haven't received ours.

 

[NY_Rob]

We ordered the tonneau cover and we knew the power wasn't an option but they are supposedly sending out the manual ones now.....but as of today.....we haven't received ours.

The handful of manual tonneau covers that were mailed out to regular owners (non-Rivian employee owners) was a "mistake". The manual tonneau's were supposed to get sent to employee owners only for a shakedown/evaluation. Deliveries to regular customers has not begun yet.

 

[NC-Rivian]

Omg we’re back to this… Rivian gives a broad timeline to not get locked in and the nerds break out their abacus to calculate the precise second a response is required and will sell all stock and yellow logos if they don’t hit it on the dot!

This thread didn’t dredge up the mid-summer thing. If Rivian can’t need the mid-summer deadline, they should modify their own statement and perhaps begin to say late summer or early fall. In any case, I’ll probably get my TACS adapter before my replacement power cover.

 

[Cary Hawk]

compact spare please. it is almost end of summer !

meteorological summer is June 21 - September 23, putting us right at mid summer. Rivian may be using the stars for timeline projections.

 

[ElGuapo]

Just curious.....in your opinion....when does "early adopter' period end? I find this comment interesting and how long people feel a company is in its period where all buyers should be aware they are buying an unproven vehicle from a company that may take a long time to correct deficiencies.

I would say 2-3 years for a true automotive start-up. That's what it took for Tesla in my experience. I mean, the Model X had suspension issues for years after 2016 that they really never fixed permanently. The FWDs on the X sill have a ton of issues on many cars - that's 8 years. That's why Elon said they'd never make them again. They had so many issues with their sunroof leaking on the S, they stopped making it (along with wanting to be more efficient with respect to manufacturing). Teslas still have water in their headlights and tail lights today.

If they were making a VR headset, I'd be less patient, but they're making a car.

 

[R1Tom]

I would say 2-3 years for a true automotive start-up. That's what it took for Tesla in my experience. I mean, the Model X had suspension issues for years after 2016 that they really never fixed permanently. The FWDs on the X sill have a ton of issues on many cars - that's 8 years. That's why Elon said they'd never make them again. They had so many issues with their sunroof leaking on the S, they stopped making it (along with wanting to be more efficient with respect to manufacturing). Teslas still have water in their headlights and tail lights today.

If they were making a VR headset, I'd be less patient, but they're making a car.

I agree with all this.. luckily for Tesla they had only game in town status for a really long time, so people put up with all that to have a BEV. I suspect Rivian has less time with only game in town status. Once people like Toyota make a competitor, I suspect they can fix things like powered tonneau quicker than Rivian has, so that cross shopping could be a tough sell for Rivian. But Rivian still is only game in town with a vehicle like this, so they still have time to get this stuff corrected. And I really hope they do.....as I love my R1T.....and I love the brand.

 

[ElGuapo]

The other piece specifically to powered tonneau issue is most legacy automakers like Toyota and Ford have big aftermarket tonneau cover makers/providers. Best I can tell, most (all?) of these legacy folks don't even offer an OEM powered tonneau cover. So Rivian was trying to do something a bit new (and make up for not having aftermarket support yet)...not defending them, but ultimately, they will require more time and if folks don't like that and Toyota or others can provide a better option, people will go for it. Capitalism...(with tax credits!).

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