mmiles2012
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Mike
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2023
- Threads
- 6
- Messages
- 70
- Reaction score
- 104
- Location
- Nashville, TN
- Vehicles
- '86 911 Coupe, '23 R1T LE
- Occupation
- I work for a Tire Company
- Thread starter
- #1
Hey gang - Figured I'd introduce myself and give a bit of background as I'm newish to Rivian world but have had some fun times along the way!
I'm Mike. Auto industry guy. Been around this industry going on 20 years, and had the fortune of touching almost every single area of design, manufacturing, sales, marketing, T1/2/3 suppliers, you name it - a lot of this due to a decade as a strategy consultant and industry expert at a mid-sized firm some of you have probably heard of along the way. Nowadays work in strategy for one of the big tire companies.
There's a lot I know that I probably can't share here, but, all this to say I've read some speculations here that probably aren't far from truth.
This will be my second EV after a brief stint with a Nissan LEAF from 2014-16. At the time I had Nissan as a big client and got a massively good lease on this car (seriously, leasing it was less than what I had been spending on gas every month to drive to/from work - and I could charge for free whenever I was at Nissan's offices). Terrible car. I've jokingly called it an appliance, not a vehicle, as I had to plug it in every night.
My fun Rivian fact? In 2019 we had a client call and ask if we had any manufacturing expertise to do due diligence on a minority investment they were making in a startup automaker. Got a trip to Normal and a deep dive into this startup automaker that had big backing from Amazon and Ford. Met RJ and some of the early leaders. Made some recommendations. The client invested
.
I put a deposit on an R1T on March 1 of this year as work has gotten me to a point where I can afford to have fun cars like this. And then surprisingly got included in the big batch of configs on March 10 and currently cruising the R1 shop and waiting for a build date! Looking forward to taking delivery and making this one mine - really will be the first car where I've been in a position to do mods I've always lusted after in car forums.
Edited with an update:
‘What’s with the profile picture, Mike?” I’m glad you asked, internet user!
The due diligence effort where I got to evaluate the Rivian folks was known to the client internally as “Project Blackbird.” So it seemed fitting
.
I'm Mike. Auto industry guy. Been around this industry going on 20 years, and had the fortune of touching almost every single area of design, manufacturing, sales, marketing, T1/2/3 suppliers, you name it - a lot of this due to a decade as a strategy consultant and industry expert at a mid-sized firm some of you have probably heard of along the way. Nowadays work in strategy for one of the big tire companies.
There's a lot I know that I probably can't share here, but, all this to say I've read some speculations here that probably aren't far from truth.
This will be my second EV after a brief stint with a Nissan LEAF from 2014-16. At the time I had Nissan as a big client and got a massively good lease on this car (seriously, leasing it was less than what I had been spending on gas every month to drive to/from work - and I could charge for free whenever I was at Nissan's offices). Terrible car. I've jokingly called it an appliance, not a vehicle, as I had to plug it in every night.
My fun Rivian fact? In 2019 we had a client call and ask if we had any manufacturing expertise to do due diligence on a minority investment they were making in a startup automaker. Got a trip to Normal and a deep dive into this startup automaker that had big backing from Amazon and Ford. Met RJ and some of the early leaders. Made some recommendations. The client invested
.I put a deposit on an R1T on March 1 of this year as work has gotten me to a point where I can afford to have fun cars like this. And then surprisingly got included in the big batch of configs on March 10 and currently cruising the R1 shop and waiting for a build date! Looking forward to taking delivery and making this one mine - really will be the first car where I've been in a position to do mods I've always lusted after in car forums.
Edited with an update:
‘What’s with the profile picture, Mike?” I’m glad you asked, internet user!
The due diligence effort where I got to evaluate the Rivian folks was known to the client internally as “Project Blackbird.” So it seemed fitting
.Sponsored
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