📥 New Rivian email: production sequence adjustments to maximize production output in spite of supply challenge

[junkanoo]

Let's walk through your example from a real world "get it done" business perspective.

White R1T is shipped to So Cal delivery center for a 2018 reservation holder. At the last minute, financing falls through, buyer backs out, whatever. Now Rivian has an orphaned white truck with 20" wheels. Rivian wants to sell that vehicle as fast as possible so they search for reservations matches and find one in So Cal from 2019 where there is a delivery center, and one from 2018 in upstate NY where there is no delivery center. Customer order specs are identical.

From a business efficiency and customer service viewpoint (knowing that you have X% post delivery service calls), where should the vehicle be delivered?

I think you need a better "real world" example. With Rivian, the customer takes ownership at the plant with the shipping FOB Origin. Adding to that, when the customer can sell the truck for significantly more than he paid for it ... your example is just not a real issue for Rivian.

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[Trandall]

Research has been done on this phenomenon. When you pick the good line at the grocery store, you minimize the luck and forget about the benefit rather quickly. When you pick the line behind someone writing checks for an order being split into 3 transactions you get upset and remember the unlucky waste of time.

This is an internet forum, and no place for your logical reasoning whether backed by research or not.
We chose to believe that the fact we can afford a premium new truck is a direct result of our good choices and the fact that it's taking a little longer than anticipated is bad luck solely brought about by others.
~ The Internet.

 

[timf]

I'd have to disagree with you my friend. The only real concern is whether they have enough of the darker wood parts to use them on the OC colors. In your assertion, there are a few assumptions that may be off. For one, I'm not talking about swapping existing part I'm talking about making new parts with different colored veneers from the get go, at the vendor. There is no reason the vendor can't change the veneer in their production process. Every single interior component that has the OC interior can be made with darker wood veneers from the very start.

Making such a change at the vendor would likely result in a several month lead time increase, which is right up there with Rivian's current estimated timeline for OC. The point is there's not a solution which would allow existing inventories of OC seats to be matched with existing wood trim assemblies simply by reallocating parts from other interior colors that would allow previous delivery timelines to be met.

 

[Jmiller929]

Of course honest communication is important! My point is Rivian’s top priority is hitting or exceeding their production ramp goals. They need to do both. Yesterday’s email was an effort to communicate more transparently. I spent years in my career leading marketing and communications teams. Rivian would be well served to supplement these emails with more detailed and explanatory Q&As to address the FAQs of affected customers.

Clearly, there is also an opportunity to align the messaging customers are receiving from Guides and customer service reps. Customers should receive one consistent message on any given question from every point of contact. Following rivianforums, there are way too many examples of conflicting answers being received.

This is a culture/leadership issue.

Well all we can do at this point, is to look on the bright side. All the flaws should be fixed by the time OC customers get their vehicles.

 

[IrishDawg]

I have an adventure R1T with midnight/black mountain/20" black wheels configured. They gave me a July - September time frame back at the beginning of the year. I reached out to customer service yesterday and they confirmed that window remains true. I was sure it would have slipped later!

 

[weathermission]

I suppose Rivian should have avoided all of this by just going the route Ford chose with the Lightning & Maverick...no interior choices at all. Pick your trim, live with how it comes.

Or make it easy on themselves with a synthetic dash material they can control since they are already using "not leather"

FORD is having the same trim problems. Just got this today.

 

[Rhidan]

I was able to switch my configuration from OC to BM this morning. Guide said switching would certainly get me delivery of the vehicle sooner. However, no guarantee that I still have my “April-May” delivery spot after signing a PBA last week for OC and then switching to BM.

Honestly, just feels like guides don’t have any more information than we do at this point.

 

[paariv]

I have an adventure R1T with midnight/black mountain/20" black wheels configured. They gave me a July - September time frame back at the beginning of the year. I reached out to customer service yesterday and they confirmed that window remains true. I was sure it would have slipped later!

All that means is they haven't updated their estimates yet. I presume more general delays will happen because Rivian didn't say they were on track except for OC. They left the door wide open for more delays if and when we ever get the outreach they promise. History tells us Rivian always takes advantage of those openings it leaves itself.

 

[747 Whalewatcher]

So as with every other OC preorder holder, i'm extremely disappointed that it's going to be another 6 months (if not more) before we see the OC interiors. It's been since Dec 2018 for me, so this would put it pretty close to 4 years. I was wondering though, how many of the OC interiors currently configured are actually tied with Launch Green, which is a color we'll never see again? Mine is that way and now i'm wondering if I'm one of a ton of OC preorders with LG, or if the OC interior preorders are evenly split across multiple exteriors? Could be that LG and OC will be a more rare configuration if many of those initially configured in that combo elect to change to FE or BM. Something to think through, as it may be that once OC is available, the Launch Edition, Launch Green's may be first to come down the line (at least I'm hoping they would be) but that may depend on how many of that combo are left to fill in the fall. Why is it that i feel like i'm "Falling" further down the list with my OC interior?

Waiting for guide to also confirm whether Camp Kitchen and RoofTop Tent are both also delayed (from what i hear they are until sometime in 2023). If that's the case, then the truck as i had imagined using it wouldn't be complete until sometime in 2023 and perhaps that means i should wait anyway. Got 111,000 miles on the Alpina now, what's another 10k miles on it by the fall.

This is a breakout from Rivian Stories... I think this is the LE-OC combination ratio you were curious about. 24.3% of the Launch Green are configured with Ocean Coast.

 

[NY_Rob]

Honestly, just feels like guides don’t have any more information than we do at this point.

That is actually 100% incorrect!! We have more and better info than they do

 

[wicked2112]

Is there a way we can find out if our current delivery window is in 2022?

You should have already received an email a while back. If not, I would contact Customer Service.

 

[moosehead]

But let's not let entitlement get the best of us, yeah?

I believe your sentiment here is not the issue at hand. This is not a Karen throwing a tantrum because the nightly special is sold out at a favorite restaurant.

In this case, the most aggravating issue is that those who signed purchase docs 5 days ago for their LE OC trucks, and were told by an assigned guide that delivery was May 2022 - cannot rely on any of what Rivian told them last week. Rivian clearly set these expectations.

Sure, it's a start up with risk. Sure, we all put down deposits with contractual ability for Rivian to increase prices. Sure global supply chains are brutal.

This is different. It is trust that continues to be handled poorly. Unfortunately, that is now the expectation set by Rivian's actions rather than their words. By now, most of us expect Rivian to overpromise and under deliver, and are surprised if the opposite happens to occur.

Full disclosure: I did not order OC, nor am I expecting a truck this year. But I feel bad for my brothers and sisters who were told they would have trucks next month.

 

[HokieBird7980]

This is a breakout from Rivian Stories... I think this is the LE-OC combination ratio you were curious about. 24.3% of the Launch Green are configured with Ocean Coast.

Thanks for the charts. I am betting that this number is rapidly diminishing as the first round of "Will you take BM over OC" that happened in Mid March my guide said she had a 50% hit ratio on takers converting to BM from OC. That would reduce this to about 12% left of all OC Launch Green reservation holders. With last night's news, i'd say this drops at least in half again, if not more. Thinking at the end of the day those that stick with Launch Green and OC will be a true minority, whereas they originally would have made up nearly a quarter of all Launch Green R1T's. This is something for me to consider as the original percentage shows that there would potentially be at least 24% of all future buyers on resale years down the road who may prefer the OC interior. Time will tell. For now, still struggling with the potential to switch. Guide informed me the Camp Kitchen and Tents are due late this year, not 2023 as i read in another post. However, with anything, that's subject to slipping. So it's either wait until Fall (meaning more like November) for OC and hope the Camp Kitchen and Tent is available to come all at once.

 

[AdamsFan1983]

Thanks for the charts. I am betting that this number is rapidly diminishing as the first round of "Will you take BM over OC" that happened in Mid March my guide said she had a 50% hit ratio on takers converting to BM from OC. That would reduce this to about 12% left of all OC Launch Green reservation holders. With last night's news, i'd say this drops at least in half again, if not more. Thinking at the end of the day those that stick with Launch Green and OC will be a true minority, whereas they originally would have made up nearly a quarter of all Launch Green R1T's. This is something for me to consider as the original percentage shows that there would potentially be at least 24% of all future buyers on resale years down the road who may prefer the OC interior. Time will tell. For now, still struggling with the potential to switch. Guide informed me the Camp Kitchen and Tents are due late this year, not 2023 as i read in another post. However, with anything, that's subject to slipping. So it's either wait until Fall (meaning more like November) for OC and hope the Camp Kitchen and Tent is available to come all at once.

Curious to see how this all plays out. I haven’t seen anyone suggest it yet, so I will. I wonder if following the pricing debacle; if there’s really a significant cost implication to ocean coast and they’re trying to drive people away from it, with the intention of cancelling it all together once they thin the herd.

 

[MD Waits]

I think your analogy is off a bit. It’s more like if you went to the ice cream shop and asked for vanilla in a waffle cone. They tell you they are making more vanilla, but are out for now, would you like to switch to chocolate and have your ice cream now, or wait on the vanilla? If you choose to wait for vanilla, does that mean every customer behind you has to wait to get their ice cream until you get yours?

Just take the chocolate, wait or leave, but don’t be the whiny 5 year old that is shouting and stomping around the ice cream shop saying it’s “just not fair” that you had to change your order or wait longer than someone that just came in wanting chocolate.

Hilarious and sadly true

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