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Zac

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Any discussion on the "Tour"? Seems like these should be locked in if they are still doing it. It was in May when they said Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Detroit and Seattle with more coming.

As much as I'd like it, I'm not expecting an invite for a personalized experience at the factory.
Good question! Rivian's website under Stories still says the following. "We're kicking off our drive program in August — we can’t wait for you to get behind the wheel to experience the performance and handling of driving a Rivian. The first cities we’ll visit include Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Detroit and Seattle, with more announced soon."

That date is obviously wrong.

Their tweets say September, but is that true?
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Diddy123

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Good question! Rivian's website under Stories still says the following. "We're kicking off our drive program in August — we can’t wait for you to get behind the wheel to experience the performance and handling of driving a Rivian. The first cities we’ll visit include Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Detroit and Seattle, with more announced soon."

That date is obviously wrong.

Their tweets say September, but is that true?
With all the communication they've been doing lately, they've not had any time to update the website with real information on timing nor better pictures of the vehicle in the configurator. I mean, they sent an email 5 weeks ago, what more can you expect them to be doing? There's a chip shortage after all.
 

Zac

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With all the communication they've been doing lately, they've not had any time to update the website with real information on timing nor better pictures of the vehicle in the configurator. I mean, they sent an email 5 weeks ago, what more can you expect them to be doing? There's a chip shortage after all.
Ha! Seriously, it would be good to know the exact dates ahead of time, especially for folks who may want to travel to one of those cities to get an earlier hands-on experience.
 

Jay

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Good question! Rivian's website under Stories still says the following. "We're kicking off our drive program in August — we can’t wait for you to get behind the wheel to experience the performance and handling of driving a Rivian. The first cities we’ll visit include Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Detroit and Seattle, with more announced soon."

That date is obviously wrong.

Their tweets say September, but is that true?
They already did the first drive program right at the factory with 10 pre order holders ?
 

LoneStar

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Just sell DuckTruck his ride along with the dozen or so other super-fortunate folks. That will unleash a torrent of first-person experiences to keep this forum hopping for several weeks. Can't wait to see some real owners posting videos on YouTube. Ideal time to become a content provider with a Rivian channel since there will be very little competition for weeks or months to come.
 

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AlohaR1TR1S

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Yeah, let's forgo on that "brand ambassador" stuff .. I don't need a zealous tesla-style attitude mixed into my Rivian ownership or folks thinking their "stuff" don't stink because they are one.


Had the pleasure to sit down with Rivian today and discuss lots of the topics that have come up on this post and on the forum overall.

First and foremost, this group is being heard and they are actively looking to address a large number of the open questions posted here. The main point that I tried to emphasize is the need/desire for more transparency and clarity. It's okay if they either do not have the final info to share on a particular topic or if they are just not ready to make their answer "official". But having some sort of view into when that will come is what is most desired, as what causes most of the debates here is due to lack of visibility which leads to assumptions being made. I believe this was heard loud and clear.

I was very impressed with the homework the team has done between monitoring the boards, monitoring Customer Service chat sessions, and documenting Guide conversations where those have started. This team gets a huge A+ when it comes to attention to details...and if they are taking this much effort on their customers I cannot wait to see the finished product when it rolls off the assembly lines.

More to come, but wanted to give you all a quick update.

Updated with answers & notes:

Couple of quick hits...

First, the following is my best recollection and interpretation of what was said...I promise I am not embellishing anything below, but that being said, take it with a grain of salt if I misheard or misremembered something.

They are planning on doing more outreach like they have recently (DuckTruck's factory tour, my lunch, etc.). They have a number of ways that they are looking to engage with pre-order holders leading up to AND THROUGH launch deliveries.

Not all of the info we are asking for is final-final...and instead of putting out near final info out there, they rather wait and get it right...we all know there are some of us who would hang them if they said mileage would be 350 miles and then it came in at 340 miles later. I do not blame them for this whatsoever.

We spoke a lot about the info that is being communicated...cadence of info, what the info is, who delivers the info. As to be expected this will be a constantly evolving process. I shared my personal opinion that right now the pre-order holders have typical early adopter mentality (give me as much info as possible to consume and then give me fancy, polished videos later). Believe the more polished materials will be useful later when you are trying to convert people who are just hearing about Rivian. Right now everyone is data hungry and in the absence of data we all have a tendency to start making assumptions that fit our own narratives (positive or negative).

As expected, there are strangers among us. Think we all realize this, but not everyone here is a pre-order holder...there are competitors, industry people, Rivian employees, general trolls, etc. They know this...believe we all know this...interesting to hear that they are aware of it nonetheless.

The conversation was great though...learned a lot about his journey...what he is hoping to personally accomplish...what the company is looking to accomplish. A lot of the convo was around my thinking on this or that...agree with them or not, here are some of my opinions that I shared...
  • set a timeline for when we can expect info...if there is a reason to not publish EPA numbers just yet, say so and let us know when we can expect them...start with a month, then tell us what week, and then release...I think most of us are okay with waiting for certain pieces of data to come but we want to know when to expect them so we arent hitting refresh on message boards like this all day/night
  • in regards to boards I asked if there were plans to have an "official" message board at some point...was told it is something they are having conversations about and asked my opinion...I responded that I believed at some point there should be an official message board so that users had a place to meet, interact, and learn from one another. In terms of timing I said that I didnt think it was necessary until they were at a point where most all pre-orders had been fulfilled and potential new customers were coming to the site to find out more...we WILL be and ARE the biggest advocates for the brand
  • along those lines I recommended having official "ambassadors" on this (and other) boards...those of us who do have Guides and are also passionate about helping out others with the info they have. Saw a lot of that on this very post...people would list a question they wanted me to ask and someone else on the board was able to post the answer as the info is out there but maybe we all just dont know where to find it or need help to understand it
  • "s00n" did come up...they hear our agitation and have taken it to heart...it was never done to ruffle our feathers, it was just the best answer to give at the time as the answers were/are coming soon...i recommended a s00n shirt be produced and sold to acknowledge that we all get it
  • discussed the criteria that will determine the order in which vehicles will be produced and we will receive...nothing surprising here...configuration, location, order date (which is NOT discernable by any number that you are able to get regardless of how early you ordered).
  • mentioned that I am in the boat of being okay with more than one color if it gets me the car any earlier...sounds like most of us have stated the same/similar and one of their concerns is if an official order is published at some point it throws off the numbers as too many people would swap their configurations to match and the planning is well underway already
  • "launch green" is actively discussed internally as to whether or not it should have come first based on the naming or if it just should have been called something like Limited Edition Green to not set the improper expectation that it was first off the line
  • discussed my experiences with taking possession of a Model 3 very early on in launch and how that process played out...what was good, what was bad, what I thought was fine but could be improved
  • discussed how this process will be difficult for many as there arent traditional dealerships so there are many of us who will see a certain color or even the vehicle itself for the first time in person when we are picking ours up...something that will be a hard pill for some to swallow and something that some of us have done in the past (myself in that latter group with the Model 3)
  • ::edit:: one more thing...they get that the configurator needs a little work as it doesnt represent all of the colors in the most accurate way...i think we will see this updated prior to deliveries (my opinion on that part)
I think it's easy for us to forget that no matter how successful they have been thus far, they are still a start up and things evolve quickly when you are growing as fast as they are (literally hiring hundreds and thousands of people over the past couple of years since they have come out of stealth mode).

I'm sure there are some things that I am forgetting right now and will fill in more as I remember or find out more.

Extra big thank you to both my guide and my companion for lunch today...you both are great examples of why I would someday hope to join the team there as well.

Added:

I did forget one part...at one point we were discussing how the used car market is absolutely insane right now and how not knowing exactly when I will get my R1T has left me in a bit of a pickle. The price I have been offered for my existing car has gone from ~$12-14K 6 weeks ago to $18-22K now...something I would be inclined to take if I knew just how long we would be a 1-car household for. The uncertainty of knowing a more exact delivery date has ripple effects to other decisions that I have to make. They found this to be an interesting perspective and said that they would take it back to the team to discuss. Nothing may come of it, but it could also spark a change in the internal thinking/actions as well.
 

crashmtb

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Yeah, let's forgo on that "brand ambassador" stuff .. I don't need a zealous tesla-style attitude mixed into my Rivian ownership or folks thinking their "stuff" don't stink because they are one.
True word-of-mouth is better than brandfluencers for sure.

However, it's the hot ticket in marketing right now...
 

Babbuino

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Good question! Rivian's website under Stories still says the following. "We're kicking off our drive program in August — we can’t wait for you to get behind the wheel to experience the performance and handling of driving a Rivian. The first cities we’ll visit include Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Detroit and Seattle, with more announced soon."

That date is obviously wrong.

Their tweets say September, but is that true?
Just talked to a CS rep and she also said Sept, but asked about which story says Aug XD
She mentioned that the date is incorrect in the story, but also the locations are still unknown. Not necessarily those cities will be involved in the initial drive program.
 

kanundrum

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Just talked to a CS rep and she also said Sept, but asked about which story says Aug XD
She mentioned that the date is incorrect in the story, but also the locations are still unknown. Not necessarily those cities will be involved in the initial drive program.

Ive been searching event hosting places (where BMW hosts their Drive Events etc) but something tells me they will have a bit more of a Urban setup rather than someone like BMW who does autox style events.
 

DuckTruck

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Just sell DuckTruck his ride along with the dozen or so other super-fortunate folks. That will unleash a torrent of first-person experiences to keep this forum hopping for several weeks. Can't wait to see some real owners posting videos on YouTube. Ideal time to become a content provider with a Rivian channel since there will be very little competition for weeks or months to come.
LoneStar,

Who am I to argue with your plan. And, contrary to the assertions of others, all "stuff" stinks, mine included, maybe even especially. ?
 

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R1S Maineiac

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After the weekend/week I've just had with... The other EV company, I will ask for my deposit back if there's not a service center within 75 miles of me.

5 hours to wait for a flatbed because....AN SD CARD went bad.... Would be a bad look for a young company who is, thus far, at least talking like customer service is important to them.
 

crashmtb

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After the weekend/week I've just had with... The other EV company, I will ask for my deposit back if there's not a service center within 75 miles of me.

5 hours to wait for a flatbed because....AN SD CARD went bad.... Would be a bad look for a young company who is, thus far, at least talking like customer service is important to them.
All rivian has to do is…not do a bunch of things Tesla has done, like cheap out and run the car off of flash cards.
 

DucRider

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After the weekend/week I've just had with... The other EV company, I will ask for my deposit back if there's not a service center within 75 miles of me.
Unlikely that the 75 miles is going to materialize (depends some on where exactly in "Western Maine").
They have announced that there will be 41 nationwide. Not every State gets one and likely Boston will be the closest (they have job openings there).
 

Pathfinder

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Ha! Seriously, it would be good to know the exact dates ahead of time, especially for folks who may want to travel to one of those cities to get an earlier hands-on experience.
I've been wondering about this as well. Given the logistics that go into these I would have to think that if they are really happening in September they know the dates, times, etc.

I know there's still 6 weeks before the end of September but as you mention several of us would travel to these locations and it's not ideal to plan a trip on a couple of weeks notice.

To me it seems unlikely they have the drive events in September, but this is simply based on the fact they haven't released any additional details on timing/location.
 

Attesan997

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All rivian has to do is…not do a bunch of things Tesla has done, like cheap out and run the car off of flash cards.
Sometimes I wonder what it would've been like if Tesla didn't make some of their poor choices. This SD card, the HW1 to HW2 transition, poor paint quality and quality in general. But then I realize even with their issues they sell every car they make with no real signs of slowing down. Must be nice to be ahead of the market. If only Toyota had done something with the Prius lead and spent the money on the jump to BEV instead of hydrogen. I've gone a bit off topic here....
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