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photontorque

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I also was one voicing hope that Rivian would offer the dark rim option for the LE R1S. But $3500 for the upgrade? No thanks.

I'm willing to pay a premium for something that is unique and highly capable -- i.e. the Rivian vehicle itself -- but I am not willing to pay an exorbitant upcharge on things that are readily available for a fraction of the cost.
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szimmer624

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Yes I agree Scott...should be at most $1700 to upgrade to the blacked-out wheels for LE. This has got to be a mistake on Rivian's part...Maybe we should all fire off an email to customer support and bring this to their attention. ([email protected]). With the 22's for instance, I could just order the free silver ones and probably pay $3500 for four additional black ones later and have 8 wheels total...it just doesn't make sense. Heck, I can have the free upgraded LE wheels gloss black power coated for around a $1000.
I’m going to give them the benefit here. Rivian has been very responsive to the community. Without knowing the unit cost of the standard vs dark rim, I can’t say how much more one should be than the other. I’m fully in favor of them making a profit. After all, we want them to succeed and survive.

I can only say what I was hoping for and what I was prepared to spend. I was hoping for free - $2500. Free would have been a nice nod to the launch edition folks. $2500 would have still been a benefit to launch edition folks.

If the price was $1700, I would have been pleased and pulled the trigger. If it were $2000, I would have pulled the trigger. At $2500, I’d be debating it, but at least that’d be $1000 off as a thanks to LE folks.
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sevengroove

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$2500 would have still been a benefit to launch edition folks.
I see your point here about $2,500 being good value for you personally. But it doesn't make sense based on their current wheel pricing. Launch Editions already include an $1,800 wheel option value baked in because we get to choose the 20" or 22" wheels at no "extra" charge over the 21" wheels. Rivian should be accounting for that in the price they offer for the dark wheels. That they haven't just reinforces that this is a cash-grab on their part. I'm struggling to believe it is a mistake, it's too simple to mess up.

We should also give ourselves pause to appreciate our baseline for "fair" - we think it's fair for a company to charge us $1,700 extra for the same wheels, except painted black. Rivian can't even meet that mark? Shame.

Edit: Maybe I'm reading too much into this but I found it interesting that the off-road package with the Launch Edition shows up as "included" on the configurator page, but the 22" and 20" wheels do not (just has nothing where the price should go). My OCD tendencies tell me they should show $1,800 Included:

Rivian R1T R1S Launch Edition R1T & R1S get 20" black wheel option 1608485561091
 
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Caymanwent

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I see your point here about $2,500 being good value for you personally. But it doesn't make sense based on their current wheel pricing. Launch Editions already include an $1,800 wheel option value baked in because we get to choose the 20" or 22" wheels at no "extra" charge over the 21" wheels. Rivian should be accounting for that in the price they offer for the dark wheels. That they haven't just reinforces that this is a cash-grab on their part. I'm struggling to believe it is a mistake, it's too simple to mess up.

We should also give ourselves pause to appreciate our baseline for "fair" - we think it's fair for a company to charge us $1,700 extra for the same wheels, except painted black. Rivian can't even meet that mark? Shame.

Edit: Maybe I'm reading too much into this but I found it interesting that the off-road package with the Launch Edition shows up as "included" on the configurator page, but the 22" and 20" wheels do not (just has nothing where the price should go). My OCD tendencies tell me they should show $1,800 Included:

1608485561091.png
My thought on this, seeing how they haven’t announced this yet, is that this is just a coding issue. They allowed the dark wheels on the LE but they haven’t made a separate dark wheel in their system. Zeroing out the price on an item is different coding wise to have a separate price for an added item.
 

sevengroove

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My thought on this, seeing how they haven’t announced this yet, is that this is just a coding issue. They allowed the dark wheels on the LE but they haven’t made a separate dark wheel in their system. Zeroing out the price on an item is different coding wise to have a separate price for an added item.
I dabble in some coding myself (a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing), and yes I can see that being an error. But if they were going for the add-in route which is less elegant, they could have created a “LE dark wheel add-in” item with a different price, and maybe that’s what they’ll do eventually when they announce this. I’m just wondering why they couldn’t have done the “if package = LE, zero out price” thing for the wheels since they already have that mechanism for the off road package.
 

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I'm hoping they eventually switch from a "free wheel upgrade" to something like $2K to spend as desired on upgrades/options/accessories.
 

Rhidan

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We should also give ourselves pause to appreciate our baseline for "fair" - we think it's fair for a company to charge us $1,700 extra for the same wheels, except painted black. Rivian can't even meet that mark? Shame.
Wait till they charge you for the extra spare tire . . .

Seriously though, if you don't want to pay for this option, don't. Dark wheels were not an option for the LE. People asked for the option. Rivian is now offering it. Seems weird to get mad that you're not getting your extra discount with this special option. No problem with asking CS for the discount, but lets step back from the edge. We have no idea how Rivian has worked out this deal with its suppliers. IIRC, these are also forged wheels, not exactly cheap. The AT dark wheel on the R1T also does not appear to be same wheel painted black.
 

Gshenderson

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I’ve always wondered why the 20” was an upcharge in the first place (I intentionally use the word “upcharge” vs. “upgrade”). On most cars and trucks, the base wheel package is almost always the smallest rim diameter they offer, and then you pay more to upgrade to larger diameter rims and smaller profile tires. But for whatever reason, Rivian decided that the 21” would be the standard, and going either up or down from that would be an upcharge. What’s even more perplexing is that the 21” is the least “common” of the bunch, which typically would drive the price up.

So I’ve hypothesized that it’s more about what the market will bear vs. Rivian’s costs. They off the the 21” as standard, realizing that anyone wanting to move away from that is doing it for a specific reason and would be willing to pay more. The 20” crowd are folks who want to go offroad and need a higher profile tire. It’s important, so we are willing pay for it. The 22” crowd wants to pimp their ride, and again are willing to pay for that. I have no evidence to back up this hypothesis other than a lack of any other relational explanation. Thoughts?
 
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Pherdnut

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I’ve always wondered why the 20” was an upcharge in the first place (I intentionally use the word “upcharge” vs. “upgrade”). On most cars are trucks, the base wheel package is almost always the smallest rim diameter they offer, and then you pay more to upgrade to larger diameter rims and smaller profile tires. But for whatever reason, Rivian decided that the 21” would be the standard, and going either up or down from that would be an upcharge. What’s even more perplexing is that the 21” is the least “common” of the bunch, which typically would drive the price up.

So I’ve hypothesized that it’s more about what the market will bear vs. Rivian’s costs. They off the the 21” as standard, realizing that anyone wanting to move away from that is doing it for a specific reason and would be willing to pay more. The 20” crowd are folks who want to go offroad and need a higher profile tire. It’s important, so we are willing pay for it. The 22” crowd wants to pimp their ride, and again are willing to pay for that. I have no evidence to back up this hypothesis other than a lack of any other relational explanation. Thoughts?
The 20s come with a much larger tire. Note the bump in height when you change it in config.
 

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MReda

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I’ve always wondered why the 20” was an upcharge in the first place (I intentionally use the word “upcharge” vs. “upgrade”). On most cars are trucks, the base wheel package is almost always the smallest rim diameter they offer, and then you pay more to upgrade to larger diameter rims and smaller profile tires. But for whatever reason, Rivian decided that the 21” would be the standard, and going either up or down from that would be an upcharge. What’s even more perplexing is that the 21” is the least “common” of the bunch, which typically would drive the price up.

So I’ve hypothesized that it’s more about what the market will bear vs. Rivian’s costs. They off the the 21” as standard, realizing that anyone wanting to move away from that is doing it for a specific reason and would be willing to pay more. The 20” crowd are folks who want to go offroad and need a higher profile tire. It’s important, so we are willing pay for it. The 22” crowd wants to pimp their ride, and again are willing to pay for that. I have no evidence to back up this hypothesis other than a lack of any other relational explanation. Thoughts?
There is really no comparison to a car coming with 19s instead of 18s or whatever. In this case, going with the 20" rim is a completely different animal since it's an A/T tire. The wheel itself is definitely an upgrade - since it is forged, it will be stronger, lighter, and more expensive to manufacture. The tire is only an upgrade if you have access to a lot of dirt roads, remote spots, etc. Definitely not for everyone. I think a lot of people would be unhappy if the 20s with an A/T tire was standard.

Since we know the 21" wheel and tire combo is going to be the highest efficiency option, my guess is they went with that as standard for reasons related to marketing. They probably also know most trucks never leave pavement, and most drivers will prefer a moderate all season tire if it gets them the quietest ride with the most mileage.

None of that has any bearing on the cost upgrade for going to black wheels.
 

Pherdnut

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My thought on this, seeing how they haven’t announced this yet, is that this is just a coding issue. They allowed the dark wheels on the LE but they haven’t made a separate dark wheel in their system. Zeroing out the price on an item is different coding wise to have a separate price for an added item.
This really shouldn't be a technical challenge but I suspect responsibility for the site has changed quite a few hands so it's possible their codebase is a bit cobbled together.

My bet is still more on just charging a ton for a desirable cosmetic option because they know some people care less about being overcharged when they're spreading it all across a 3-7 year loan.
 

St Bernard

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When RIVIAN originally set up their Options they obviously wanted to keep it as simple as possible. The less Options means more profits. As we all saw the Configurator was very basic. I think many of us were surprised. Look at any of the other premium car Configurator as a comparison. One would think they discussed offering more Wheel Options. But again in an attempt to keep things simple decided people would be happy without dark wheels. When they started getting complaints and people wanted the option they probably said, ok if people will pay a premium for another wheel option let’s offer it. So they did. Now people are upset that it’s so expensive. There obviously was no profit in them offering the Wheels for $1750 on the LE. Seems easy to me. Either pay the up charge or save some money and have it done later. Just my 2 cents.
 

Caymanwent

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I’ve always wondered why the 20” was an upcharge in the first place (I intentionally use the word “upcharge” vs. “upgrade”). On most cars and trucks, the base wheel package is almost always the smallest rim diameter they offer, and then you pay more to upgrade to larger diameter rims and smaller profile tires. But for whatever reason, Rivian decided that the 21” would be the standard, and going either up or down from that would be an upcharge. What’s even more perplexing is that the 21” is the least “common” of the bunch, which typically would drive the price up.

So I’ve hypothesized that it’s more about what the market will bear vs. Rivian’s costs. They off the the 21” as standard, realizing that anyone wanting to move away from that is doing it for a specific reason and would be willing to pay more. The 20” crowd are folks who want to go offroad and need a higher profile tire. It’s important, so we are willing pay for it. The 22” crowd wants to pimp their ride, and again are willing to pay for that. I have no evidence to back up this hypothesis other than a lack of any other relational explanation. Thoughts?
22“ inch makes sense for me. I’m buying an SUV that can do 0-60 in 3 sec and I don’t have big range concerns. So having the best on road performance from the wheels/tires is what I would lean towards. And god forbid a bad hurricane hits, even with the 22 inch wheels on this, I will be one of the few still able to get around in a vehicle given the approach/departure geometry and wading depth.
 

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I'm hoping they eventually switch from a "free wheel upgrade" to something like $2K to spend as desired on upgrades/options/accessories.
22“ inch makes sense for me. I’m buying an SUV that can do 0-60 in 3 sec and I don’t have big range concerns. So having the best on road performance from the wheels/tires is what I would lean towards. And god forbid a bad hurricane hits, even with the 22 inch wheels on this, I will be one of the few still able to get around in a vehicle given the approach/departure geometry and wading depth.
Until the hurricane knocks out the power:CWL::CWL:
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