RIvian internal announcement: Software upgrade from Dual to Dual Performance available in 2024

[mikehmb]

For some context - to install a supercharger on a Tundra that brings the power from 381 to approx 550hp was a $10k affair at least ($7500 for the supercharger from Magnuson, plus install). Torque increased but not nearly as much.

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[Dizman7]

From 533 to 665 hp, it better not be demanding more than $5k. Even $3k would be borderline hard-to-justify. Worst case scenario, it becomes one of the many annual subscription based services, like MB did to the EQS/EQE.

Eww, hope they don’t do BS subscriptions like MB

 

[Gandy14]

I spoke with sales this morning on the phone as well as someone in the Seattle Rivian Space this afternoon. They both confirmed that Rivian announced internally today that they can start telling customers that the ability to upgrade the software from Dual to Dual Performance will be available for purchase in 2024. Exact timing and pricing unknown.

Wonder if it will cost more than $5k?

I would love more info on this because in Canada its a $7500 upgrade for PDM but its also puts it in a new tax bracket so it amounts to almost $14000 upgrade after tax. It would be huge to still give Rivian the money for the upgrade but later to save the tax

 

[240vPlug]

It would not makes sense for them to offer it for less than 5k. Otherwise nobody will order DMP from factory.

Let's say they sold it for $6,000.... One could buy DM , potentially get a $3,750 tax credit at point of sale, then turn around and buy the upgrade for only $2,250

 

[Sgt Beavis]

Now do the quad

$5000 for a bump to 1000hp 🛻

 

[Zoidz]

Or....what about more extreme amounts? Like say make the QM have like 300hp for $79995, and add $20k post sale for 850hp?

Call it the "Tuner QM" or "QM Basic".

It's highly unlikely that Rivian is making $20k profit on the 4 motors ($5k per motor), so even if they were profitable on the R1 at the current sales price, they would likely be selling a derated 300hp quad at a loss. Makes no sense. Lowering the horsepower in no way reduces the manufacturing cost.

 

[R1Tom]

It's highly unlikely that Rivian is making $20k profit on the 4 motors ($5k per motor), so even if they were profitable on the R1 at the current sales price, they would likely be selling a derated 300hp quad at a loss. Makes no sense.

I'd say that is all true. They probably have alot more profit in those DM's where they can offer that $5k discount to accept a limiter on the motors. But even then still giving up $5k per vehicle with the same manufacturing cost.

 

[GHuff]

I have a hunch that they have been holding off on this announcement to push more initial sales of Performance DM.

I think if you have the ability to upgrade at a later date, Rivian is afraid that most people will purchase the regular DM initially, thinking they may upgrade to Performance in the future, and then never do. After driving it for a bit, most people are going to realize that regular DM is more than enough power and Performance is unnecessary.
Also, another thing to keep in mind is that you will not be able to finance an upgrade after purchase, which will definitely diminish upgrade sales.

Now that they made this announcement, I can see Performance DM sales plummeting. It's human nature to push off large (and unnecessary) purchases, thinking that if you need it, you will do it at a later date--Procrastination.

 

[madgrey]

It's highly unlikely that Rivian is making $20k profit on the 4 motors ($5k per motor), so even if they were profitable on the R1 at the current sales price, they would likely be selling a derated 300hp quad at a loss. Makes no sense. Lowering the horsepower in no way reduces the manufacturing cost.

Yeah, the first step is to improve the profit margin of the R1 QM. Then Rivian will likely increase the price of the Performance Quad. S-Plaid is a $15K adder right now, I suspect at least 10K from Rivian. I think it's a bad idea for Rivian to derate the power of the QM. We already have the DM variants to cover that market.

 

[Herb]

https://www.motortrend.com/news/rivian-loss-per-vehicle/

I think these losses should be a lot less after their plant upgrade in 2024 but they need to start turning a profit within a year or so, or they'll go kaputt. I think most PDM shoppers will go for DM, thinking they will upgrade later. It remains to be seen how many actually will. This is certainly a balancing act between getting additional buyers for tax credit reasons and losing money now on the PDM upcharge. I am sure some analyst at Rivian crunched the numbers.

 

[carl]

It may be easy to justify that paying any amount to just upgrade the software of hardware that already installed to get more HP isn't right, but what most people fail to remember is that as soon as the HP goes up, more stress is put on the drivetrain and other components of the car which is still warrantied by Rivian. So most of the additional cost is to help cover those new warranty related issues that are sure to arise when you have more power. (Which is why the warranty is voided when upgrading an ICE engine.)

I just got the R1T PDM Max two weeks ago (just a few days before all of the actual range results were published... arrrg....), and if they come out that upgrading from DM to PDM after purchase is less than $5k, I'm not going to be happy, along with every other PDM buyer. So I highly doubt that it will be less than $5k, and more than likely more that $6k.

 

[R1TS]

They could also software limit the battery to something silly like 50 miles of range if too many people weren't buying the upgrade.

Rivian is not in a position to be giving away free batteries (if people don’t end up paying to unlock it post purchase).

 

[scottf200]

Or decide the base model is still pretty dang quick and save 5k plus get the tax rebate.

I may have misunderstood but software is not considered part of the MSRP for the tax rebate.

 

[SANZC02]

I may have misunderstood but software is not considered part of the MSRP for the tax rebate.

True but MSRP will reflect included options selected and the Performance Dual Motor is 5k higher than the standard dual motor, it also is only selectable with the large battery so you can not configure either the R1T or R1S with Performance Dual Motor and keep the price under 80k.

That being said, if the Performance option is allowed after purchase I wonder if it is only on large and max pack vehicles?

 

[HaveBlue]

Coming next, max pack upgrade; there's no way they are building two different batteries at this point which are so close.

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