1 of 1 Pebble Beach Edition R1S Quad auctions for $175,000

[ACDC]

1 of 1 Pebble Beach Edition R1S Quad auctioned for $175,000. Here's a video showing it on the auction block yesterday.

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[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

TBH, when announced, I didn’t think it would sell well or that it’s the right venue/audience. It’s overwhelmingly an audience of ICE collectors. Plus, it’s just a R1S with minor cosmetic differences. If it had different body work it might have done better. And it probably would’ve done better had it been auctioned after the Pebble Beach presentation—after the audience understood what it is. But really the entire exercise was to increase brand awareness without tying up too many resources. And it did that job. Now, the real test is overall sales in Q3 and 4; after expiration of lease credit.

 

[sub]

it’s just a R1S with minor cosmetic differences. If it had different body work it might have done better.

How much better should they have been hoping for?

I would consider convincing someone to spend an extra $50,000 for brown paint and a brown headliner to be pretty darn successful!

175,000 is nearly enough to buy a base model R1, R2, and R3. One car for the price of three!

 

[CarGuyCarl]

Better than I was expecting to be 100% honest.

 

[drivetorun]

When you consider the 12% buyers premium, the price was really $196k (unless Broad Arrow exempted the Rivian given it was benefiting charity, but they didn't mention that). That's a 50% premium over a loaded Quad...much better than I expected.

 

[mkg3]

Proceeds from the auction will be donated to WaterAid and #TeamWater. This is a crowdfunding campaign that aims to enhance access to clean water for millions of people around the globe.

The buyer gets a tax write-off and Rivian gets the press coverage. It really wasn't about the value of one off version. One off is for publicity.

 

[zigzagzap]

Ha. You don't think its a PR stunt? We all watched it and are talking about it. They can certainly put out a press release. This is sus to me.

 

[CharonPDX]

OP's Embedded video has start time just *AFTER* the Rivian.

1:27:24 is when the Rivian auction starts:

Opening bid was $50,000 (it had no actual minimum or reserve, that was just what the first bidder put in.)

The "SOLD!" was at 1:31:25:

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Ha. You don't think its a PR stunt? We all watched it and are talking about it. They can certainly put out a press release. This is sus to me.

100% a PR stunt. I would know. I work in advertising. They weren't aiming to go "to the moon" with sale price. As long they as they got what a gen2 quad is worth, they're golden.

The rest of the cost:

• The employees involved were on salary anyway, whether they worked on this or not.
• The rainbow like trim pieces were literally spray painted or dyed by hand
• Enough various non-production fabrics for a one-off

Not terribly difficult undertaking. And for that, they got a car sold and a lot of media exposure. Cheaper than a network TV ad (by a huge margin).

 

[Time2Roll]

Still one of one and that is what the audience of collectors like to see.
And well documented at the show as being unique.
Not even that much money in that world.

 

[NeedSumCoffee]

$50k for custom wheels, custom paint and custom interior from an OEM feels like a pretty good deal.

Tsportline has had a custom program for awhile with Teslas. They will make you a bespoke interior for about $30k, then add custom paint and wheels on top of that... $50k is pretty reasonable, especially directly from a manufacturer.

 

[djsider2]

This is definitely not a money maker for Rivian based on all the resources that was used. Employee salary time spent here is salary time not spent elsewhere. Maybe Rivian got to write off all of those costs since it was for charity?

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

This is definitely not a money maker for Rivian based on all the resources that was used. Employee salary time spent here is salary time not spent elsewhere. Maybe Rivian got to write off all of those costs since it was for charity?

It wasn't the full design team. And Design work on the R1 and R2 were already done. I bet you, it was actually a slow time for that team when this was done. Design teams do one-off projects all the time. Some for fun. Some for learning. Some both. It's not as resource intensive as you think, looking from the outside.

 

[Gassious]

How much of a tax write off would that be? Price paid ($175k) - Pre-auction estimate($130k) = Write off ($45k)? I would guess that you would not be able to write off the 12% buyer's premium.

After purchasing my Rivian RS1 in 2023, I donate my 2008 Porsche Cayenne GTS 6-speed manual to Catholic Charities as a tax write off. It was appraised for $12000. They auctioned it off for $19100 which is what I was able to write off. I'm curious what the purchaser was able to write off.

 

[JetFalcon]

This car is cool

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