R1T & R1S Updated Pricing, Configuration, Specs. Dual Motor Now Available

[Curney1]

When I asked SC why my buddy who reserved his the same day as me on 11/30/2018 got a call yesterday morning from his guide and got to keep his price and I did not, they said that they were sorry and did not have a good answer. They said they would look into it.

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[RivianBlueSLC]

You have no idea what you're talking about. Rivian is protected against a suit by an individual consumer seeking to force them to honor the old price based on that clause. But it does not protect them against a shareholder suit or an SEC investigation based on the impact on share price from the announcement. And indemnification is about who pays, it's not a defense to a claim - your misuse of basic terminology shows you are way out of your depth.

Securities matters can be based on actual false statements or on lies by omission. Here, it seems pretty clear Rivian was lying by omission. The claim would go like this:

• Rivian knew it couldn't sell vehicles at the advertised price. It even fired the executive that forced the issue.
• But it collected orders and touted their numbers in the runup to the IPO. Investors bought shares based on the reasonable expectation that these orders would convert to purchases.
• Rivian knew it couldn't honor its pricing, but didn't tell the market. Instead, it touted how many orders it had.
• It even pretended to start deliveries, in reality limiting distribution to employees and other insiders. It didn't care about the price they paid, because this was in reality a beta test (also undisclosed to the market, and potentially the basis for a related claim).
• When it came time to start actual deliveries, Rivian jacked up the price for everyone. Orders went down, way down, as you'd expect for such a ham-handed move.
• The price increase is so drastic that it must have been planned for a long time, probably pre-IPO. But it was never disclosed to the market.
• They should have disclosed these plans because of the material impact on orders and - as today's stock drop reveals - share price.
• Therefore, us shareholders are entitled to reimbursement for the amount of the stock drop caused by the price increase.

Take it from someone who knows this area of the law: this is a strong claim and would support a 9-figure settlement.

this is a good summary. And yes the SEC likely already is on this, but its probably worth everyone who agrees with the above representation of events to file a complaint with the SEC. Here is how you begin that. https://www.sec.gov/oiea/Complaint.html

 

[7cupholders]

After stewing on it, I am canceling my reservation. I would have taken a couple of thousand in price hikes for their listed and been disappointed, but understanding. This hike and the way they did it really dropped the veil on all the other communication and overpromising/ under delivering they've done. I've always felt like the culture they're "building" is a market ploy over anything which I was fine with, but not hiding the bro culture.

I went to bed in the "let's hold onto the reservation for a few more weeks", maybe they'll come to their senses category, but Nah. They turned a fan into a hater. I've had so many friends asking me about Rivian's price hike because I was the one who introduced them to the brand, boy do I have a lot to tell them.

I like the product, hate the company. The tech is cool, but not revolutionary, they're packaging it a new way, but that innovation is already slipping from established manufacturers. I honestly don't even want to consider a Tesla because of Musk, Rivian is now in the same boat. I honestly hope the company fails and the awesome engineers and staff can go work for a better company and we'll see an amazing product with a decent company behind it. I don't think Rivian will fail and I'm disappointed that folks on here are straight-up Rivian apologists. I don't have an alternative vehicle chosen, but I'm back on the hunt and a bunch of neat things are coming in the nearish term.

There are lots of great people here I hope you get the vehicle you want Rivian or otherwise and not treated like an afterthought to whatever rotting squash makes decisions at a corporate level.

I mean what is gaslighting but with no communication? Stadium lighting.

f*ck yOOu rivian

 

[Curney1]

"I've had so many friends asking me about Rivian's price hike because I was the one who introduced them to the brand, boy do I have a lot to tell them."

my buddy texted telling me I should have got a Tesla. I was more pissed about that than the price hike. My fiends wont let me live this down after I hyped it up for YEARS

 

[the long way downunder]

I respectfully disagree. It may be cross competing against several categories but several members have indicated they also have early F150 Lightning reservations and would now be moving on the Ford not the Rivian. I may well be in this camp myself. It doesn't have to be an apples to apples comparison to still be competing for the same dollars.

I have a "day one" Lightning pre-order at two Ford dealers (trying to avoid gouging over MSRP.) I think the R1T and Lightning are directly comparable, but they're not competitors any time soon. Ford isn't going to lose one sale to Rivian, Rivian isn't going to lose one sale to any competitor in the next year or so. Rivian has made the necessary price adjustment. It could have been handled more tactfully with an arc of communication giving pre-order holders a realistic price expectation years ago.

Rivian hasn't really updated it's pricing since May 2018 (AFAICT.) There have been price changes, some content changes, but they made a mistake which wasn't called out as a mistake over the last 3 years:
Rivian took in non-binding place-in-line holding deposits ("pre-orders") which are not orders, not price agreements or contracts. Since the Nov '18 reveal, Rivian has neglected to publish price expectations and should have followed the market, updating the price incrementally as the market moved.
I think when they launched the rudimentary configurator, they needed to start a marketing program to control price expectations. Every time Tesla hiked its prices (Tesla raised the price of the Y 8 times in 2021?) Rivian should have shifted its price. As their product team updated its costing, there should have been quarterly updates to the published price. The changed made yesterday should have arrived in a planned and well forecast series, not as a cold text.

Somewhat ironically, I think Rivian has inadvertently "culled and qualified" it's sales leads (pre-order queue.) I think Rivian will have a clear view of real pre-orders and new customers placing a pre-order will have a more realistic expectation of price and expected delivery.

 

[Bobthebuilder352]

this is a good summary. And yes the SEC likely already is on this, but its probably worth everyone who agrees with the above representation of events to file a complaint with the SEC. Here is how you begin that. https://www.sec.gov/oiea/Complaint.html

I’m annoyed too but you legal analysts are completely wrong and clouding things with your SEC *knowledge* of an alleged conspiracy. Doesn’t help us but instead makes us all look like idiots by sending Yelp style complaints to Elon’s fav agency

 

[7cupholders]

"I've had so many friends asking me about Rivian's price hike because I was the one who introduced them to the brand, boy do I have a lot to tell them."

my buddy texted telling me I should have got a Tesla. I was more pissed about that than the price hike. My fiends wont let me live this down after I hyped it up for YEARS

Right, new personal rule don’t defend billionaires or those trying to be billionaires.

 

[the long way downunder]

When I asked SC why my buddy who reserved his the same day as me on 11/30/2018 got a call yesterday morning from his guide and got to keep his price and I did not, they said that they were sorry and did not have a good answer. They said they would look into it.

That's an important "edge case" for Rivian to sort out. It really can't be such a hard line. How many pre-orders did they get that day? 200? 2000? Hopefully they'll blur and curve this line to be fair while balancing their real world costs. Of course if your order is not identical to your neighbor, whether it's wheels or paint or off-road or throwing the kitchen sink at it, there has to be a point when "number at the deli" 42 gets built and number 43 doesn't.

 

[trmckin1]

cxld a few weeks ago luckily. Sorry to those that were still holding on and hoping Rivian would deliver something close to what was advertised. Bait and switch might be tough to prove with the fine print but RJ absolutely lost a lot of supporters this week. Tone deaf at best with their wording. Makes me wonder if this is why Ford and Amazon haven’t been as eager in recent months after realizing RJ might only be good at raising capital rather than running a company?? If RJ doesn’t mind doing this to potential customers, I can only imagine how they will treat you after they have your money. Lightning it is. Good luck!

 

[Guy]

I have a "day one" Lightning pre-order at two Ford dealers (trying to avoid gouging over MSRP.) I think the R1T and Lightning are directly comparable, but they're not competitors any time soon. Ford isn't going to lose one sale to Rivian, Rivian isn't going to lose one sale to any competitor in the next year or so. Rivian has made the necessary price adjustment. It could have been handled more tactfully with an arc of communication giving pre-order holders a realistic price expectation years ago.

Rivian hasn't really updated it's pricing since May 2018 (AFAICT.) There have been price changes, some content changes, but they made a mistake which wasn't called out as a mistake over the last 3 years:
Rivian took in non-binding place-in-line holding deposits ("pre-orders") which are not orders, not price agreements or contract. Since the Nov '18 reveal, Rivian has neglected to publish price expectations and should have followed the market, updating the price incrementally as the market moved.
I think when they launched the rudimentary configurator, they needed to start a marketing program to control price expectations. Every time Tesla hiked it's prices (Tesla raised the price of the Y 8 times in 2021?) Rivian should have shifted its price. As their product team updated its costing, there should have been a quarterly updates to the published price. The changed made yesterday should have arrived in a planned and well forecast series, not as a cold text.

Somewhat ironically, I think Rivian has inadvertently "culled and qualified" it's sales leads (pre-order queue.) I think Rivian will have a clear view of real pre-orders and new customers placing a pre-order will have a more realistic expectation of price and expected delivery.

Do you believe that the price will stay the same for those who now move to the dual motor standard battery setup? I and many others will move to that spec to keep the price similar to what was promised before but I have low hopes that they don’t hike again just as deliveries start.

 

[NEILLASCENCIO]

. .. … that Lucid Gravity SUV looks very appealing now! I have a reservation for a Lucid Air that will convert to a Gravity once it is available for preorder! It’s sad how Rivian deceived us! -.- #ExRivianAmbassador

 

[the long way downunder]

Do you believe that the price will stay the same for those who now move to the dual motor standard battery setup? I and many others will move to that spec to keep the price similar to what was promised before but I have low hopes that they don’t hike again just as deliveries start.

I expect Rivian will now move its prices to keep pace with the market – hopefully not as frenetically as Tesla (8 increases in 2021) but something predictable like quarterly changes (up or down) and a simple transition between model years (since model year is a major factor in resale value … the other two factors being trim level and odometer.)

 

[the long way downunder]

. .. … that Lucid Gravity SUV looks very appealing now! I have a reservation for a Lucid Air that will convert to a Gravity once it is available for preorder! It’s sad how Rivian deceived us! -.- #ExRivianAmbassador

This is a lie. You have zero posts here prior to this crock.
An "Ambassador" with zero posts?
You're just spamming this forum.

 

[STLBlues76]

After having a day to stew on this, I will likely keep my reservation and move forward with purchase in a few months. Even at the new prices ($85K for my LE R1T), the truck itself is still a good value IMO. As someone else mentioned, I paid over $100k for a Tesla Model S 85D in 2015, and this is a superior vehicle IMO. Unless I start hearing about issues with the trucks and/or post-delivery owner experience, I’m still a buyer.

Despite the doomsday predictions, I don’t think this will kill the company or the stock in the long term. It’ll likely have the opposite effect due to improved margins. I also don’t believe it will lead to any sort of mass harassment or other retribution to us “scabs” who still buy. 95% of the population doesn’t even know who Rivian is, and 99% don’t care that they raised the price on an already expensive truck that most people couldn’t afford to begin with. The bigger risk to the viability of the company is going to be whether they can get their shit together to ramp up production in a meaningful way, and whether they have significant quality and/or service issues once they start shipping. As others have said, there’s still enough buyers willing to take every truck they produce for at least the next 3 years, even at the new prices.

In true Rivian style, though, they completely botched the comms and approach to this entire thing. This is a well-known and multi-year problem for them, and some heads should be rolling over it. But I doubt they will.

I’m sad for the many folks who have been priced out of the market by this increase. Many long-time loyal supporters simply can no longer afford the truck, and that’s what upsets me the most. I’m not going to jump on the “if it was that close you probably couldn’t afford it anyhow“ bandwagon. These are real impacts on real people, and Rivian has shown zero empathy for them. That’s just bad business decision making, but consistent with their behavior for many years.

I’m predicting a major reset on delivery expectations either on the earnings call or shortly before (likely on it given their piss poor comms / PR operation). So even though I have a May-June delivery window, I don’t expect to see my truck until July-Aug at the earliest, even with all of the cancelations.

Rivian has done much to piss away what could have been a massive asset of brand loyalty and promoters. I’ll likely get the truck, but I won’t be an advocate for the company or the brand unless/until they do a complete 180 on how they treat and communicate with customers.

This sums up my feelings perfectly (and much more eloquently).

 

[Craigins]

When I asked SC why my buddy who reserved his the same day as me on 11/30/2018 got a call yesterday morning from his guide and got to keep his price and I did not, they said that they were sorry and did not have a good answer. They said they would look into it.

So that's the wrong question. The answer is because they had legal documents written up (potentially signed) that they didn't want to change and were just going to proceed with.

This question dates back to May, why did he get a guide when you didn't.

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