Rivian: we’re out.

[rraj2k81]

Maybe this is me, but I can't seem to shake off the whole 'shadiness' of Rivian and RJ the more I think about how this whole thing played out.

Over the last 6 months or so, they have been producing vehicles and delivering them to investors, Rivian insiders, and employees. Most of them were able purchase it at the original price, and then employees were given price incentives to take ownership. And all these deliveries are used for their IPO and quarterly updates to pad their production numbers.

Then when the time came to deliver to 'third party' customers they magically realize inflation, supply constraint, and decide to increase prices by 20%.

Either Rivian's management and planning screams incompetence or just being shady to me.
I think it's both.

I wonder if any of this constitutes for an SEC investigation?

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[Northish]

We're holding our PO for now to see what shakes out in the next few weeks but will probably cancel. We had Nat'l Park trip plans with the R1T for this year but it's starting to feel like we're getting stuck in a sunk cost fallacy - "What's another $15k..."

We said it'd be fine to stretch for an EV this capable b/c we agreed with the direction the company was projecting. And we decided to stretch for the camp kitchen since we'd really use the heck out of it for our hobbies. But you have to draw the line somewhere for your own personal situations and I think Rivian has crossed it.

I don't get the same warm feelings about the company anymore. It was easy to brush off the delays so they could get it right. They're brand new, of course. I get that; my job is in manufacturing scaling up programs globally. But recent signals are starting to feel... off. I think we were starting to get into a bit of a trance. Seems like there is a disconnect between RJ's vision and the company's goals now. Feels off so we'll probably go elsewhere for our adventure vehicle and it'll probably be an ICE for now due to where we live.

 

[lolmpg]

Signed my dealer order form. Thanks for making my decision, Rivian. 22 weeks out.

 

[Socalriv]

Signed my dealer order form. Thanks for making my decision, Rivian. 22 weeks out.

For anyone with a Rivian preorder as of the March 1 pricing announcement, your original configured price will be honored. If you canceled your preorder on or after March 1 and would like to reinstate it, we will restore your original configuration, pricing and delivery timing. Our team will be sending an email in the next few days with more details.

If you want back in, if not then we understand!

 

[Riviot]

Something tells me the OG gang is checking out in the next week or so. The new folks coming in won't appreciate our tongue in cheek salt, I've already ignored more folks in the last 24 hours than my entire time here. I even let @peashooter slide! He was the best of them.

@Administrator , it's been real, it's been fun, but my butt hurts.

@DuckTruck I can't believe we haven't heard from you yet! You too @Lil'O Annie !

@godfodder0901 @SeaGeo @Shzeph @C.R. Rivian @Eeyore @AdamL @sevengroove @Bumble1978 @Taycanfrank , message me if y'all ever get an EV truck this spring/summer and care to meet up. I'm taking the Lightning for sure, holding onto my LE R1T reservation up through day 6 of testing, and getting off the forums.

HURRY, TURN THE LIGHTS ON!

 

[ads75]

The R1T I had configured was $80k. I also have a Lyriq preorder at $60k. I thought the R1T was worth the added cost over the Lyriq, for all the features. But now my R1T is $98k. Still might be worth it, but not to me. And I can't help but think that if I was prepared to spend $100k on a vehicle, I don't think the R1T would be in my top 3, never mind the fact its from a startup. A startup that has talked about subscription plans, while not talking about what those may look like.

I placed a reservation in Sep 2021, I have a hard time believing they didn't know prices would go up 20% then.

I can't help but think the 2 main reasons for the increase are:
1. They know they can't build that many R1's, so if you can only fulfill 20k orders, get as much as you can from them, because customers won't wait forever.
2. every battery in a R1 is a battery not in a delivery van.

 

[Redline]

Signed my dealer order form. Thanks for making my decision, Rivian. 22 weeks out.

OOPS ?

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

Lock this thread and save it for posterity.

 

[AdamsFan1983]

OOPS ?

Gotta be honest; I’m still going through with my ice f150 purchase.

This is the only reasonable way for Rivian to try to recover from this, but that they are obviously able to make it right calls into question their original plan THAT MUCH MORE.

And to clarify, every time they make these unforced errors of judgement, they are messing with 10’s of thousands peoples lives, household finances, and emotions.

It’s not ok, and “making it right,” doesn’t make us whole.

 

[DB-EV]

Gotta be honest; I’m still going through with my ice f150 purchase.

This. I have not cancelled yet, but if they were willing to do this, what features will they turn off once you have bought the car, or shove into an aftermarket purchase? That is the double edged sword of the software.

My dumb as bricks 2011 Honda CRV will never betray me on software, because it has very little relatively speaking.

 

[DB-EV]

Sorry - I didn't mean to make clear the difference b/w Adams and me.

This was me:

This. I have not cancelled yet, but if they were willing to do this, what features will they turn off once you have bought the car, or shove into an aftermarket purchase? That is the double edged sword of the software.

My dumb as bricks 2011 Honda CRV will never betray me on software, because it has very little relatively speaking.

 

[lolmpg]

OOPS ?

I only locked in my $600 deposit. Guess I'll resell the Lightning!

 

[kizamybute']

Gotta be honest; I’m still going through with my ice f150 purchase.

This is the only reasonable way for Rivian to try to recover from this, but that they are obviously able to make it right calls into question their original plan THAT MUCH MORE.

And to clarify, every time they make these unforced errors of judgement, they are messing with 10’s of thousands peoples lives, household finances, and emotions.

It’s not ok, and “making it right,” doesn’t make us whole.

I believe in second chances. They F'd up. We spoke up. They realized what they did was bad and immediately corrected it and did their best to make things right. None of us are perfect. We live, learn and adjust. Props to Rivian for correcting course. May not have had much of a choice as they really ticked off a lot of people and would have been tough to recover from, but, they did correct and will recover. Not sure how new customers will feel about the higher price points. Time will tell. They may have cut them back a bit to stat competitive. Just happy they did correct and quickly.

 

[kylealden]

This. I have not cancelled yet, but if they were willing to do this, what features will they turn off once you have bought the car, or shove into an aftermarket purchase? That is the double edged sword of the software.

I have no doubt that Rivian will introduce new features that are gated behind paid upgrades or subscriptions. Some of them will make people mad. (Can't wait for the flamewar if CarPlay is paid upgrade.) In my mind, that's crazy. It just proves people don't understand the nuances of software development costs, binning, etc. Nobody is mad that aftermarket accessories aren't free, but once code is involved everyone loses their minds. But to each their own.

However: I think there's no chance in hell Rivian withdraws existing features behind a paid upgrade after the fact. Unlike some of the "bait and switch" conspiratorial nonsense around these parts with the price change (which was a disaster but certainly not illegal), this would be a serious potential liability. Their marketing is very clear about what is included in the base price and any changes to that post-hoc would be beyond the pale.

I totally understand that folks have lost trust, and I sympathize. But I don't think this is a reasonable concern.

 

[Tim-in-CA]

Are we all good now?

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