Rivian cancelled an R2 customer pickup b/c paint didn't match (Half Moon Grey body vs El Cap fascia) **Updated 7/21** 800 vehicles affected

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Jeep would have tried to fix this with a software update

If it was a Chevy, it would have rusted before customer could take delivery.

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[NY_Rob]

Jeep would have tried to fix this with a software update

Or they would have just unilaterally canceled the whole R2 program effective two weeks ago.

 

[LR4toR1S]

Hilarious! My wife with a Gen 1 Quad R1S agrees with you. It’s one of several reasons she’s still on the fence for trading it in for an R2 as originally planned.

The R2s are awesome. I drove one while my g2 r1s was getting a sensor replaced. IF I didn't tow over 4k more than 10 times a year I would own one in a heartbeat.

 

[Jeremy3292]

This isn’t a simple paint matching issue between plastic bumper and metal body parts. That is a completely different grey color.

 

[BoxPilot]

I'm all for more color choices, but this wasn't what I was thinking.
.

 

[Gen(R3)Xer]

Hilarious! My wife with a Gen 1 Quad R1S agrees with you. It’s one of several reasons she’s still on the fence for trading it in for an R2 as originally planned.

Is it just me or does the R3’s Pernafrost kind of look like Limestone?

 

[Mos Eisley]

This isn’t a simple paint matching issue between plastic bumper and metal body parts. That is a completely different grey color.

Which then leads me to think that there were some decent number of these made incorrectly. More than one anyway. Maybe this is the only one that slipped by QC?

 

[Thebandit]

Or they would have just unilaterally canceled the whole R2 program effective two weeks ago.

"Tom! Get me the President on the phone. We're surrendering our position in Cuba."

 

[Josh X]

If they want to accidentally paint my entire R2 in Limestone, I will not complain.

As a previous R1T Limestone owner… PLEASE

 

[macb00kemdanno]

Looks like it wasn't just a one-off

https://riviantrackr.com/news/rivian-halts-half-moon-grey-r2-deliveries/

Rivian has temporarily stopped delivering R2 vehicles finished in Half Moon Grey. The hold was confirmed today and follows the bumper mismatch an owner posted about earlier this week, where a car showed up at the service center with a front bumper in a different shade of grey than the body.

Around 800 vehicles are affected.

The problem appears to sit with plastic exterior pieces that get painted separately before they are put on the vehicle. Somewhere in that process, the wrong parts got matched to the wrong bodies, which is how a Half Moon Grey R2 ended up wearing a bumper in El Cap Granite (or at least a completely different shade of grey), a color Rivian uses on R1 and does not offer on R2 at all.

 

[Dave Cundiff]

What's wrong with a two-tone grey?

I suspect they could move these vehicles at a modest discount. I bet the needed discount would be less than the parts and labor cost of fixing each vehicle.

Best to all!

 

[Josh X]

What's wrong with a two-tone grey?

I suspect they could move these vehicles at a modest discount. I bet the needed discount would be less than the parts and labor cost of fixing each vehicle.

Best to all!

I think they're more worried about brand reputational damage from having their brand new vehicle that the company literally depends on for survival driving around with mismatched panels...

 

[macb00kemdanno]

I think they're more worried about brand reputational damage from having their brand new vehicle that the company literally depends on for survival driving around with mismatched panels...

To be fair, I think that a mismatched body panel for a limited number of vehicles affecting just one color, in the grand scheme of things, would be a nothing burger in the public's eyes. Believe me, it could be a lot worse. If it were something like widespread battery fires, drive unit failures, etc., I think that would be a bigger reputational issue. A mismatched body panel is not a good look... but it's not a death knell.

And we also have to realize that Rivian doesn't have the name-share/recognition/notoriety of Tesla. If a Tesla gets into a deadly accident, it makes front-page news and is the "top story" on nightly newscasts before the facts are even in (i.e., the recent case where the dude was in FSD, held his foot to the floor for 6 seconds, and crashed into a house).

If you want to see true reputational damage, wait until point-to-point Autonomy+ comes on the scene and Rivians start racking up accidents/deaths (which is inevitable). Then the media will come out with pitchforks—and only then, if they think the Rivian name has enough "outrage bait" to make it worth their while to report on it.

 

[Dave Cundiff]

I think they're more worried about brand reputational damage from having their brand new vehicle that the company literally depends on for survival driving around with mismatched panels...

When a cat does something clumsy, it is likely to look around and give everyone a look that some interpret as, "I meant to do that." Often it works....

Best wishes!

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