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More Guide Contacts Trickling in...

Canthoney

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Back on track, anyone else get contacted by guides? I’m guessing they are still going through based on geographic area
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electrictaco

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That's just not how investment works...or being on a board. Equity, yes. Free trucks? No.
Not sure what your background on this is, but the first deliveries of highly anticipated new vehicles often go to higher ups at the company. The first Ford Bronco deliveries made their way to the dealers with the most pre-orders or historically high numbers... same with the C8 Corvette... and the Tesla Model X/3 (not to dealers, but some of the first deliveries were to major shareholders). Perhaps you can say it's just a coincidence, but I think these were all calculated moves. Sometimes you have to satisfy more than just your pre-order holders.
 

cohall

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Not sure what your background on this is
My entire career has been negotiating executive leadership, M&A, and PE investment contracts.

but the first deliveries of highly anticipated new vehicles often go to higher ups at the company.
I have no doubt that RJ and maybe a few other Sr. Execs will be among the first batch of production vehicles.

The first Ford Bronco deliveries made their way to the dealers with the most pre-orders or historically high numbers... same with the C8 Corvette...
This has nothing to do with investors. High producing dealerships get rewarded in many ways by large traditional manufacturers.

and the Tesla Model X/3 (not to dealers, but some of the first deliveries were to major shareholders).
This is news to me, and quite surprising.

Sometimes you have to satisfy more than just your pre-order holders.
Satisfying investors is primarily driven by only one thing - equity value. Free or first trucks never enters the equation.
 
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ActionDH

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My entire career has been in executive leadership, M&A, and PE investing.


I have no doubt that RJ and maybe a few other Sr. Execs will be among the first batch of production vehicles.


This has nothing to do with investors. High producing dealerships get rewarded in many ways by large traditional manufacturers.


This is news to me, and quite surprising.


Satisfying investors is primarily driven by only one thing - equity value. Free or first trucks never enters the equation.
Completely understand the idea of senior execs and such receiving their productions vehicles first in most cases, but in this case they have been driving these trucks for months, RJ and I’m sure many others, with the aforementioned vehicles most Ford or Chevrolet execs and shareholders were never privy to preproduction vehicles. So in a way it’s not the same, but I’m sure they will get theirs first no doubt.
 

Atlrivian

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I'm not going to discount the possibility of July deliveries until the 31st. A truck could come off the line in Normal, get loaded on a flatbed, and make it >500mi to preorder holder #1's doorstep in the morning.

There will almost certainly be a big media event, turned Rivian Story, for the first Joe Schmo lucky enough to take delivery by July 31.
 

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bigdogrod

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Tshirt?.... T-shirt? I got a poster.


My friend got a home charger from Tesla when he pre-ordered his model 3
 

Gshenderson

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They probably aren't sharing photos of production lines because they are supply constrained and may only be able to build a handful of trucks a day (not exactly an impressive photo for the blog).
Or maybe cameras are supply constrained as well…. ?
 

dleewla

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nope. But I did contact CS Chat this morning and asked if the production line was up and running or if they are still in pre-production. The response was something to the extent of sign up for the e-mail newsletter for the latest updates. I told him typing "no" would have been quicker and much more clear. :) At least he didn't respond "S00N"
Thats newsletter is BS. They don't send squat through that. I've been on that thing since April and the only two they sent out was just to announce they had a new "story" on their website (which was "The Inside Story" and "Adventures Beginning Soon"). Sign up for the Lucid newsletter and you'll see a professional, well done PR/marketing group. Rivian are amateurs, or at the very least engineer/product top-heavy.
 

Zoidz

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I'm not giving you COVID excuses, I'm giving you COVID hard facts from first hand experience. I've had multi-million dollar projects delayed/postponed by companies such as Nestle USA, Braum's ice Cream, etc. during COVID due to their internal COVID policies, as well as manufacturing automation equipment supply chain delays from suppliers like Rockwell Automation, Cognex, Keyence and half a dozen more. But feel free to keep yourself in denial regarding the impact of COVID on building factories. I'm curious - what's your personal background/experience in this space?

I'm not surprised at all regarding no photos/videos of the manufacturing facility. Companies *and* their OEM suppliers have blanket NDA requirements. I've signed dozens, probably hundreds, of NDAs in my career. Big companies require an NDA to go into a factory with 30 year old technology. I've been in factories where the **robot manufacturer** required an NDA from the owner of the factory restricting who could see the robots operating. And it's not just about the technology - it's about safety, facility design, formulation secrets, etc. Reality is that a random picture of a production line could include a someone committing an OSHA safety violation, etc. or pallets of identifiable ingredients in the background. The attitude is to be overly protective for a variety of reasons.
 

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Zoidz

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Sign up for the Lucid newsletter and you'll see a professional, well done PR/marketing group. Rivian are amateurs, or at the very least engineer/product top-heavy.
The Rivian CEO is an engineer and appears to be the driver of the company, so yeah, I agree that they are probably engineer top-heavy and marketing takes a back seat. I'll take that any day over a slick PR/Marketing campaign led company, such as Lucid or Lordstown. We've seen numerous Rivian mule vehicles on the road, but have yet to see anything of substance from Lordstown (never will) or Lucid (maybe will). Lucid announced delays this spring and as far as I know has been silent since. They went the SPAC route, good luck to them with that....
 

RivianRyan

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So far it seems like proximity to service centers is the biggest factor in guide contacts. Has anyone tried to piece together a delivery range in distance from the service centers? I'm about 50 miles from Irvine and curious if I'll be included in the initial round or if I'll be waiting for a service center to be set up closer to where I live.

I asked this question on the Rivian Chat site and got the predictable answer of more info will be released soon.
 

Canthoney

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I know I will be canceling if they announce another delay at the end of this month. I can’t trust a company that tells me one thing up until the last possible day and then announce another delay, just leaves a bad taste. Still a huge fan of the product, just not a fan of their comms team. Will be a customer in the future, and that means one of you guys will move up!
 

Trandall

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@Zoidz,
I've worked in numerous manufacturing facilities and am currently working as a construction project manager and my experience is just as you stated above. Materials ,and labor for that matter, are a battle to procure. Does anyone know of any available steel workers in upstate NY right now, figured I'd ask.
Anyway calling them excuses is a matter of semantics, yes they are excuses that doesn't mean they are easily avoidable or surmountable. The struggle is real.
 

kanundrum

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I know I will be canceling if they announce another delay at the end of this month. I can’t trust a company that tells me one thing up until the last possible day and then announce another delay, just leaves a bad taste. Still a huge fan of the product, just not a fan of their comms team. Will be a customer in the future, and that means one of you guys will move up!
I can see a lot of people doing this, even a big company like Rivian can send a humanized explanation as to why things are the way the are regardless of those reasons if such a delay were to occur again. The last email at the last day of May was a huge let down and slap in the face for those planning for June and it was probably somewhat clear they knew ahead of time of a delay. If cars are actually being delivered in Nov, just say so and reasons why and call it a day.

I reckon that would retain a lot more people than cancelling reservations across the board.
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