What if Rivian plans to do us right?

[Rivian_Hugh_III]

Lots of us are worried because our preorders have been stripped of essentials: Camp kitchen, powered tonneau, frunk outlet, tunnel shuttle, while the Max Pack is MIA.

Our worry is that Rivian won’t restore these, or that when they do restore them the prices will be jacked and we’ll lose our pre-order pricing. Rivian, we imagine, will say these are new designs not subject to the earlier pricing because the earlier pricing was for the discontinued designs.

But what if Rivian plans to restore these features at pre-March pricing even for the new designs? Some have said that CS has confirmed this in part — namely that the Camp Kitchen will be the pre-March price for the new design (for pre-March orders). Maybe it will be the same for the powered tonneau? Maybe the same for a better power outlet in the frunk?

If these redesigns delay preorder holders from making a purchase, that’s good for Rivian, as it pulls to the front of the line payers of full price. Preorder holders may decide to accept delivery of stripped down Rivians and that’s also good for Rivian’s bottom line.

Then, perhaps in mid- or late-2023, preorder holders might be able to accept Rivians with all the bells and whistles for still the reduced price. It’s possible and who knows, maybe even likely. Rivian would benefit on every side: more full price payers now, more pre-March orders selling with less gear (less loss), and more goodwill for the early order folks when the new designs come online.

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[Guy]

As others have said delaying the fulfillment of pre March orders does not help them financially because in 2024 or even 2025 if you had these orders to fill the costs, due to further inflation in the next couple of years, would increase the loss.

 

[crashmtb]

All I want from rivian is a firm delivery window, communicated clearly. I don’t give a cold fart about pricing.

 

[Gavinmcc]

Pricing being “locked” isn’t a thing for me. I totally understand why prices go up.

Hell, the big revolt over the March price increase could have been easily avoided by doing a smaller “prices of parts has gone up.”

If they had said, “Hey, the prices we set 2 years ago just don’t work today. So we are increasing prices,” and then adding 3 to 6k to the price, well people would be unhappy but probably understanding. But adding 12k was a shock.

As for these things going up: it’s understandable. Again, hopefully not a huge crazy amount that shocks the system, but prices go up.

 

[R1Sky Business]

All I want from rivian is a firm delivery window, communicated clearly. I don’t give a cold fart about pricing.

Sounds complicated

 

[ads75]

Lots of us are worried because our preorders have been stripped of essentials: Camp kitchen, powered tonneau, frunk outlet, tunnel shuttle, while the Max Pack is MIA.

We have very different definitions of the word “essentials”.

 

[CharonPDX]

Pricing being “locked” isn’t a thing for me. I totally understand why prices go up.

Hell, the big revolt over the March price increase could have been easily avoided by doing a smaller “prices of parts has gone up.”

If they had said, “Hey, the prices we set 2 years ago just don’t work today. So we are increasing prices,” and then adding 3 to 6k to the price, well people would be unhappy but probably understanding. But adding 12k was a shock.

As for these things going up: it’s understandable. Again, hopefully not a huge crazy amount that shocks the system, but prices go up.

Hell, Ford has made the F-150 Lightning nearly $20,000 more expensive if you want an Extended Range pack, with *ZERO* accommodation for day-one preorder holders. (~$12,000 more, which prices it above the Inflation Reduction Act limit for trucks to qualify for the tax credit, adding another $7,500. The XLT ER is particularly galling, since it's now $80,974. Less than $1000 over the IRA limit.)

 

[domoplaytime]

We have very different definitions of the word “essentials”.

Maybe "differentiators" is a better word. As in, the essential reason some folks chose a Rivian over Lightning.

Not me. I just wanted an electric sedan with a bed. I don't like the suspension and handling of trucks like the F150, so the Rivian offered a differentiator. For me, it's an essential.

 

[moosetags]

When we preordered the R1T, we wanted an electric truck. We originally ordered the Explore Package. We didn't care if it even had a radio. We are now, of course, stuck with Adventure Package. That's OK; we can deal with that. The proposed March, 22 price increase was quite excessive. We think that a nominal price increase due to rising costs would have been acceptable to most preorder holders.

We are early adopters. We placed our preorder on November 28, 2018. Rivian now tells us that we cannot get a truck because we do not live in a "correct" location. We are not even permitted access to the R1 Shop because of where we live.

This being the case, we think that Rivian needs to "do us right", even if they can't sell us a truck until 2026 or beyond.

Brian

 

[Madsen203]

When we preordered the R1T, we wanted an electric truck. We originally ordered the Explore Package. We didn't care if it even had a radio. We are now, of course, stuck with Adventure Package. That's OK; we can deal with that. The proposed March, 22 price increase was quite excessive. We think that a nominal price increase due to rising costs would have been acceptable to most preorder holders.

We are early adopters. We placed our preorder on November 28, 2018. Rivian now tells us that we cannot get a truck because we do not live in a "correct" location. We are not even permitted access to the R1 Shop because of where we live.

This being the case, we think that Rivian needs to "do us right", even if they can't sell us a truck until 2026 or beyond.

Brian

Set up a UPS store address (they rent mail boxes that look like apartment numbers) closer to service center. Bam! Now you’re in the locality.

 

[crashmtb]

.The proposed March, 22 price increase was quite excessive. We think that a nominal price increase due to rising costs would have been acceptable to most preorder holders.

The crazy thing is that WAS a nominal increase, if you look at how much the price of everything has shot up.

the way it was delivered is the kick in the gut.

 

[COdogman]

I may be in the minority here with this thought - and it doesn’t mean Rivian could not have handled several of these changes MUCH better - but I still feel very lucky that next year sometime I will (hopefully) be getting the electric pickup I have dreamed about for so long. Buying this truck is hard for me to justify financially (who actually needs an $80k pickup that can go 0-60 in 3.5s?).

I thought the powered tonneau was cool, but I definitely don’t need it. I only added it because I thought it would get me a truck more quickly. And it certainly doesn’t change the fact that an R1 is an off road vehicle that can move Like a McLaren.

I also am grateful that Rivian honored pre-March pricing, but they sure didn’t have to and I doubt most companies today would, especially given how much more it costs to just keep your doors open. Had they decided not to retract that decision it would have pissed a bunch of people off, but it also would have been forgotten by the general public at this point. And the company would be in a better place financially.

So I’m willing to cut them slack when they botch the communications on things like a tonneau cover. And I can’t help but feel like people who get so attached to specific accessories or features (hello CarPlay) might be missing the big picture. If not having those things truly devalues the purchase for you so much that you can’t go forward, that is your choice. I’m just confused by it.

Rivian should figure out how to communicate more clearly for sure. And I encourage everyone with and without their R1s to remember that Rivian is just a company trying to survive In a very tough time. Nothing more.

 

[crashmtb]

I may be in the minority here with this thought - and it doesn’t mean Rivian could not have handled several of these changes MUCH better - but I still feel very lucky that next year sometime I will (hopefully) be getting the electric pickup I have dreamed about for so long. Buying this truck is hard for me to justify financially (who actually needs an $80k pickup that can go 0-60 in 3.5s?).

I thought the powered tonneau was cool, but I definitely don’t need it. I only added it because I thought it would get me a truck more quickly. And it certainly doesn’t change the fact that an R1 is an off road vehicle that can move Like a McLaren.

I also am grateful that Rivian honored pre-March pricing, but they sure didn’t have to and I doubt most companies today would, especially given how much more it costs to just keep your doors open. Had they decided not to retract that decision it would have pissed a bunch of people off, but it also would have been forgotten by the general public at this point. And the company would be in a better place financially.

So I’m willing to cut them slack when they botch the communications on things like a tonneau cover. And I can’t help but feel like people who get so attached to specific accessories or features (hello CarPlay) might be missing the big picture. If not having those things truly devalues the purchase for you so much that you can’t go forward, that is your choice. I’m just confused by it.

Rivian should figure out how to communicate more clearly for sure. And I encourage everyone with and without their R1s to remember that Rivian is just a company trying to survive In a very tough time. Nothing more.

I agree…BUT. for me the fact that I’ve had more marketing emails about things like software updates than I have about things relavent to my preorder(TWO! the delivery estimate 9 months ago, and an email stating they finally have approval from TC - a self declaring process that takes six weeks at worst unless you fucked up the documentation) really makes it seem like delivering vehicles in my market is really, really low on the to do list. Like, lower down than Iowa or somewhere equally as out of the way as here

 

[COdogman]

I agree…BUT. for me the fact that I’ve had more marketing emails about things like software updates than I have about things relavent to my preorder(TWO! the delivery estimate 9 months ago, and an email stating they finally have approval from TC - a self declaring process that takes six weeks at worst unless you fucked up the documentation) really makes it seem like delivering vehicles in my market is really, really low on the to do list. Like, lower down than Iowa or somewhere equally as out of the way as here

Oh I agree 100% with you on that. I feel like they should have waited much longer to even take preorders for Canada. Once they accept those deposits the clock starts ticking whether they have control over everything after that point or not. Likewise they probably should not have taken orders from places in the US they didn’t have immediate SC plans. It’s one of many self-inflicted errors Rivian could have easily avoided.

Obviously it isn’t intentional - Canada should be a huge market for Rivian. They just need to get their $hit together and make it happen. Easier said than done!

 

[moosetags]

Set up a UPS store address (they rent mail boxes that look like apartment numbers) closer to service center. Bam! Now you’re in the locality.

We thought about doing that. About six months ago, we changed our address in our Configuration Summary to the address of the Rivian Factory. We did this based on a post by another Forums member who did this and took delivery of his R1T at the Factory in Normal.

At some point after we changed our delivery address, we sent an Email to Rivian asking why we did not have access to the R1 Shop. With a preorder date of November 28, 2018, we thought that we should be extended this courtesy. We had seen posts here on the Forums about members who preordered two and three years after us selecting and taking delivery of R1T's from the R1 Shop.

Our email met with a somewhat curt response email from Rivian. We were told that our early preorder date was meaningless as we did not live in one of the "correct" geographical areas. This was also the reason that would not be granted access to the R1 Shop.

The Rivian Email went on to say, "In addition, our teams noticed a flag on your account due to an invalid delivery address. Our Normal plant's address can't be inputted into the delivery address field, so the team reverted it to the previous Florida address we had on file." This email's closing salutation was "Stay adventurous", which made me want to barf.

With our account under scrutiny by "the teams" at Rivian, we doubt if we could get away with a sudden address change to a location near a Rivian designated "correct location".

I have one final note on this Rivian debacle. The Rivian Configuration Summary sheet asks where you would like your Rivian delivered. It says nothing about your home address.

Brian

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