How Would Rivian Earn Back Your Trust?

[garthkoyle]

I'm a business owner myself, and I know you have to disappoint (SOME) customers all the time. But their actions toward current reservation holders is betrayal.

To earn back my trust, they will need to do some (maybe all) of these things:

1. Explain who made this decision and why.
2. Offer an apology for how their thinking and approaches were wrong (especially when other executives were telling the story that they were focusing on 10% market share, not profits by 2030). In 2020, there were over 2 million EVs sold. So, a 10% market share is 200,000 vehicles. With growth, that'll have to be closer to 400-500k vehicles annually. They don't have the reservations, orders, nor capacity to achieve that goal. And now they betray their early customers and brand ambassadors.
3. Reverse course on the price increase, or have a much more realistic price increase that is more believable to be attributed to "inflation"; especially for LE reservation holders. And/or include the Max Pack battery for free. The other adventure gear is replaceable via third parties and overpriced from Rivian.

What about you? How could they earn back your trust?

Sponsored

 

[thrill]

Honor the LE prices that existed yesterday morning. If they actually feel bad, throw in the biggest battery at no delay (at no cost is a hopeless reach) as an option.

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

Follow through on their existing promises and adjusted pricing. I'm ok with ripping off the band aid, but only if it means that you have a solution in place that addresses the root problem.

 

[AdamsFan1983]

They won’t try, it occurred to me this am this is by design. In a battery constrained world, this is how they meet their contract obligations to Amazon.

 

[ironpig]

This is pointless. They aren't going to reverse the decision. These are the new prices. Either cancel or stay in the game, but this kind of corporation isn't going to change course now. There are plenty of people that will buy over $100k EVs. And they can't build them fast enough to even satisfy those people. So it is what it is.

 

[moosehead]

They cannot, sadly.

Even if I might be a Rivian owner someday, that is different than trust.

 

[garthkoyle]

This is pointless. They aren't going to reverse the decision. These are the new prices. Either cancel or stay in the game, but this kind of corporation isn't going to change course now. There are plenty of people that will buy over $100k EVs. And they can't build them fast enough to even satisfy those people. So it is what it is.

For at least me, price is not the only factor in purchasing a Rivian. So price "it is what it is" is actually insufficient.

 

[ironpig]

For at least me, price is not the only factor in purchasing a Rivian. So price "it is what it is" is actually insufficient.

I think you are missing my point. As soon as I saw the price increases I was angry but I know there is nothing to be done to change them. So I can either buy the truck and the new price or not. Those are my options. And how Rivian handles their business is also part of my purchasing decision, but the idea that they are going to "earn my business" with some gesture is unlikely. I buy lots of products from companies I don't like, but they have the item I need. So I make a decision about how much I need it and either buy it or not. But I don't dwell on it. I just make a decision and move on.

 

[astonius]

Once you betray trust like this it’s really hard to rebuild. It would take a genuine apology and an honoring of the previous prices for all LE holders, especially since they’ve already stated they have the materials in-hand to build those trucks. Even if this near-impossible hypothetical happened I’d still be gun-shy.

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

Once you betray trust like this it’s really hard to rebuild. It would take a genuine apology and an honoring of the previous prices for all LE holders, especially since they’ve already stated they have the materials in-hand to build those trucks. Even if this near-impossible hypothetical happened I’d still be gun-shy.

I wouldn't expect an apology, because in the act of apologizing you are admitting that you did something wrong. Whether it's true or not, Rivian can't afford to do that.

The best you may get is a statement of justification for the decision from RJ.

 

[Craigins]

I think it would be neat to uphold the original price for the 2018 LE holders. As a recognition for being there from the beginning and wanting to be part of the first few vehicles produced.

As an engineer, I can tell that the email was basically formed by engineers and the PR department just slapped it on the company stationary.

I would love the reasoning behind it, which I'm hoping we will get at the March 10th call. It may be that legal said they couldn't offer more info during a quiet period. As such, I would have mentioned something along the lines of stay tuned for our 4Q call for more information.

 

[hola29]

It's not inflation. The trucks are worth more than what they were charging when you comp them. They are also having to pay through supply constraints, labor constraints, and yes some inflationary pressure. Why would they sell at a larger than needed loss to their competitors for a better vehicle?

The issue is per-orders, delay, and setting expectations earlier...

As far as trust, RJ should explain they are a start-up (brand new), learning how to market, learning in a very dynamic market, in very difficult times...

At $77k the truck was ridiculously cheap compared to peers, I could not believe it, TFL truck could not believe it, nor could Doug Demuro - they obviously should have understood that months and months ago. Now it is more fairly priced IMO.

I'm a business owner myself, and I know you have to disappoint (SOME) customers all the time. But their actions toward current reservation holders is betrayal.

To earn back my trust, they will need to do some (maybe all) of these things:

1. Explain who made this decision and why.
2. Offer an apology for how their thinking and approaches were wrong (especially when other executives were telling the story that they were focusing on 10% market share, not profits by 2030). In 2020, there were over 2 million EVs sold. So, a 10% market share is 200,000 vehicles. With growth, that'll have to be closer to 400-500k vehicles annually. They don't have the reservations, orders, nor capacity to achieve that goal. And now they betray their early customers and brand ambassadors.
3. Reverse course on the price increase, or have a much more realistic price increase that is more believable to be attributed to "inflation"; especially for LE reservation holders. And/or include the Max Pack battery for free. The other adventure gear is replaceable via third parties and overpriced from Rivian.

What about you? How could they earn back your trust?

 

[Sean]

Its hard to take back what they did. "Did and recover" and "should have done" are very different things. At this point we don't even know if they feel like they made a mistake. We all feel wronged but they could have been expecting this blowback. I mean they extended CS hours till midnight eastern so they knew there would be a lot of calls and they wouldn't be to put in new orders.

 

[AltaTruck]

Trust everybody................but cut the cards.

 

[AxelR]

It’s funny how the LE order holders think they need to come first.
Some of us decided to not get an LE for a reason or another.

i think they should change the price for new coming buyers and roll back to the original pricing for everybody who put their $1000 down until yesterday.

They promised to change the way people would buy vehicles, promised a community, etc
In the end, we still accepted that they are going to charge for all sorts of added services and that their communication style was equal to nothing.
They’re no better than any other car maker and soon enough will have to admit to it.

Talk about old school management. Zero comm, employee harassment, etc

Sponsored