No More Rivian Plant Factory Tours

[moosetags]

I don't like hearing this. We took Factory Delivery of Opal in Normal almost two years ago. The personalized Factory Tour was the highlight of the delivery. Being very early adopters, we were almost treated like royalty.

Brian

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[oskeei]

My S is headed to the mothership this week for service. Will report/validate. Not sure if there was ever an official" factory tour, I think it was part of the pick-up experience. Will not be surprised either way.

 

[R1T311]

My S is headed to the mothership this week for service. Will report/validate. Not sure if there was ever an official" factory tour, I think it was part of the pick-up experience. Will not be surprised either way.

It didn’t seem “official” but my guide mentioned it was an option for R1 owners back when I did a home delivery back in Dec of ‘22. I emailed my guide in March of ‘23 one day and they helped set one up for me. Scheduled a time and drove down to the plant from Iowa and a local guide gave me a 1:1 tour on a random Friday afternoon. They gave front row VIP parking and even offered a water and coffee for the drive back from the basic coffee shop in the lobby of the building. Was a very nice experience that cost nothing to me and wish it hasn’t gone away. Something simple that used to set the brand apart from others.

 

[jackr1s]

The grandkids will be at our house for spring break, and since we live somewhat near to the mothership, I thought they'd love a factory tour. But when I contacted Rivian, this was the response:



Just FYI...

I think if you buy a vehicle, they would show you around. At least that’s what I was told when I ordered mine.

 

[Aardvark]

My stock portfolio is not sad that they are too busy building vehicles to give tours. I only need another $80 share price increase to be back in the black! ?

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Dear Mr. X,

Thank you for your interest in our (Medical/Law/Business) school. Your qualifications are excellent and we believe you would have continued success studying here.

Unfortunately, our admission class sizes are limited, and we cannot offer you a place at this time. We wish you continued success with your academic endeavours.

yours truly,

etc

This reminds me of the parent / teacher conference scene in the movie Interstellar. "Your son is going to make an excellent farmer." - "You're ruling my son out for college now?" - "The university can only take so many." - "I still pay my taxes. Where does that money go?" ?

Back on topic, disappointed to hear they're no longer doing tours. Hopefully they bring it back...

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Perhaps related to preparing to produce the R2?

People might make observations ahead of planned release and cause all kinds of havoc/turmoil for a public company.

Or it’s simply a safety hazard due to construction activity. Been around construction sites up close? They don’t make for good tourist destinations.

 

[EVTrukHog]

I enjoyed the tour back in Fall of 2022… we stayed on the catwalk which eliminated any safety issues. I suspect it might be confidentiality issues. I’ve been in a lot of manufacturing facilities in my line of work and it is not uncommon for them to ban photos and require NDA documents. This gets harder to manage doing public tours every day.

 

[Sgt Beavis]

Just curious: do other U.S.-based auto manufacturers (including Tesla) do factory tours?

I've never visited one, but it seems to me that an automobile factory would be a pretty dangerous place in which to have random people wandering around. In order to maintain safety, one would need to maintain very strictly-supervised areas in which industrial operations are curtailed. That is an added expense that I (as a Rivian owner and a RIVN investor) would prefer that Rivian not have to pay, much as I would love to visit the factory myself. (I live not too far from Normal, IL and did my demo drive there.) I completely agree that a factory tour would be awesome! And it would be a great recruiting tool for my friends and colleagues at ISU. But I do have to concede that cancelling the tours is probably a good idea.

Ford Rouge plant tour: https://www.thehenryford.org/visit/ford-rouge-factory-tour/
GM Detriot-Hamtramck tour: https://media.gm.com/content/dam/Me...m/doc/GM-Detroit-Hamtramck-Tour-Guidlines.pdf

GM used to give tours of the Corvette factory in Bowling Green but they stopped doing that last year.

There are factory tours all over Japan and Germany. I tried to get in on a tour of the Nissan GT-R but they were booked up.

 

[richguess]

This reminds me of the parent / teacher conference scene in the movie Interstellar. "Your son is going to make an excellent farmer." - "You're ruling my son out for college now?" - "The university can only take so many." - "I still pay my taxes. Where does that money go?" ?

Back on topic, disappointed to hear they're no longer doing tours. Hopefully they bring it back...

I did end up in medial school and before that, business school. But I got one of those letters for B school and several for med school, the latter in 1972. Probably made me work a little harder.

 

[tps5352]

Just curious: do other U.S.-based auto manufacturers (including Tesla) do factory tours?
...

My buddy Google tells me that Tesla Fremont, California factory tours ended during Covid (2020-->) but that they have resumed (2023) to a certain extent for buyers (and probably VIPs, if those ever stopped) in California, Texas, and Germany.

 

[JohnB R1T]

Of the millions of dollars on behalf of myself and others that I have spent on equipment and consumables over the years, I have never been invited, encouraged, nor felt "entitled" to a tour of the production facilities associated therewith. It's not for lack of curiosity, and, on occasion, I have asked, but it's not something one should just flat out "expect".

I did get to visit the Mrs. Baird's bakery (and received a sweet roll) back in middle school, and, of course, winery and brewery tours and freebies are just a tiny part of their marketing budget, but you can't hardly walk into a car dealership with a solid interest in a vehicle and expect to walk out with a "slick glossy brochure" on the model you're most interested in anymore.

 

[Newtonrj]

Ford Rouge plant tour: https://www.thehenryford.org/visit/ford-rouge-factory-tour/
GM Detriot-Hamtramck tour: https://media.gm.com/content/dam/Me...m/doc/GM-Detroit-Hamtramck-Tour-Guidlines.pdf

GM used to give tours of the Corvette factory in Bowling Green but they stopped doing that last year.

There are factory tours all over Japan and Germany. I tried to get in on a tour of the Nissan GT-R but they were booked up.

For BMWs, there is the Spartanburg, SC pickup option. If you take it for your delivery location, BMW puts you up in a hotel for a night, feeds you dinner, breakfast and lunch the next day, you get a few hours on their test track with pro drivers in your 'model' vehicle doing fast lane changes, acceleration, and various (antilock) braking regimens, then you finish by going on a factory tour. After returning from the tour you are shown to a conference room. Instead of a table/chairs in the room, there is your vehicle. For the next hour or so, you get familiar with the vehicle, program your garage door opener, setup WIFI, call support from the vehicle and learn as much as you can absorb about your new vehicle. Once finished, they have you push the 3rd door garage door opener button and the wall opens up on the conference room and you drive away.

https://bmwperformancecenter.com/delivery/

 

[mikebruceusa]

The grandkids will be at our house for spring break, and since we live somewhat near to the mothership, I thought they'd love a factory tour. But when I contacted Rivian, this was the response:

A bit regrettable

Just FYI...

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