When did Rivian know that they would miss their production targets?

[wizard467]

Only one of the vehicles you listed has the off-road capabilities of an R1T and the R1T beat the Hummer EV to market - and for a lot less $.

From the article linked by @RivianXpress
That said, I’m sure there are luxury BEV shoppers who have no intention of ever off roading and if that’s the case, I guess I don’t fully understand the Rivian interest. Bringing the comparison back to Jeep, there are Cherokee and Grand Cherokee models with off-road DNA but configured to the on-street luxury SUV market (e.g. Overland, Altitude, SRT, and Trackhawk trims), but I don’t think Rivian has such options yet.

The interest in the R1T is you don’t need another trim to be configured for on-street luxury. As delivered you can put it in sport mode and get 0-60 in 3 seconds, dampening for cornering, etc. All the reviews I’ve read (edmunds, motor trend, etc.) say it is the best on-road truck (and better than a lot of cars) they’ve ever driven. Then switch it into off-road mode to get higher lift, tune the pedal response, set the individual drive tires to manage tire slip at slow speed, etc. The value proposition is you’re covered for all uses in one truck.

Sponsored

 

[dortreo]

The interest in the R1T is you don’t need another trim to be configured for on-street luxury. As delivered you can put it in sport mode and get 0-60 in 3 seconds, dampening for cornering, etc. All the reviews I’ve read (edmunds, motor trend, etc.) say it is the best on-road truck (and better than a lot of cars) they’ve ever driven. Then switch it into off-road mode to get higher lift, tune the pedal response, set the individual drive tires to manage tire slip at slow speed, etc. The value proposition is you’re covered for all uses in one truck.

There's no question that the R1T will be the best truck, EV or ICE, on the road for the foreseeable future. Rivian has hit a homerun with its first product. And the growing pains of getting production going are completely normal. For a start-up trying to manufacture a complex product at scale during the pandemic, they are actually doing pretty well.

What needs to be improved, and the delivery estimator is a good albeit overdue first step, is consistent, transparent communications from company management to customer-facing employees (the guides) and ultimately to customers.

I've worked at companies before that seek to protect their stock price above all else and in doing so sacrificed transparency. It feels Rivian has done that by not communicating openly with their guides and their customers. And by setting production and therefore income and cashflow expectations in a pre-IPO SEC filing that were questioned by at least one experienced senior executive. And this filing perhaps lent a little more pop to their IPO. Now that the company is ridiculously well-funded, hopefully their attitude has changed.

 

[CharlieSA]

And reading this, all that come to mind is Fyre festival.

 

[SeaGeo]

Small side note for context, ID.4 AWD order times have pushed further out recently as well.

 

[Nine_One_Six_R1S]

Small side note for context, ID.4 AWD order times have pushed further out recently as well.

Ford too has pushed out further. Not sure when the change started but right now if you want a Mustang Mach E Performance Edition you are looking at an estimated ~28 weeks delivery.

 

[dleewla]

There's no question that the R1T will be the best truck, EV or ICE, on the road for the foreseeable future. Rivian has hit a homerun with its first product. And the growing pains of getting production going are completely normal. For a start-up trying to manufacture a complex product at scale during the pandemic, they are actually doing pretty well.

What needs to be improved, and the delivery estimator is a good albeit overdue first step, is consistent, transparent communications from company management to customer-facing employees (the guides) and ultimately to customers.

I've worked at companies before that seek to protect their stock price above all else and in doing so sacrificed transparency. It feels Rivian has done that by not communicating openly with their guides and their customers. And by setting production and therefore income and cashflow expectations in a pre-IPO SEC filing that were questioned by at least one experienced senior executive. And this filing perhaps lent a little more pop to their IPO. Now that the company is ridiculously well-funded, hopefully their attitude has changed.

I'm a huge fan of Rivian for a lot of the same reasons folks have brought up before and want them to succeed wildly so let me just say that up front.

I find it interesting that we keep ending up coming to these two points, and they are good ones. Yes, the delays are (or should have been) expected with the pandemic, the supply chain issues, it being a startup, etc. And yes the communication has been flat out bad.

If you're just upset its delayed, there's really no consoling you. For those disappointed and frustrated by the communication or lack thereof, as shareholders, this is where we need to hold Rivian over the fire. Especially with RJ acknowledging it back in July and yet it not improving (much). Its getting slightly better but has ways to go.

I've been in comms long enough to know it takes a lot of effort to coordinate and communicate well to customers. The message it sends is either they aren't organized, have more important priorities or they don't really care. And TBH, if you don't care, and I mean really care, you don't really organize. And again if they have more important priorities, then they don't think its critical.

Growing pains, but signs point to them getting better on this front. Keep chugging away Rivian.

 

[Greenwater]

For the poster who said he's in his last 10,000 days, that's too close to home, I'm almost there too. ;-)

On another subject in this thread, I don't think rivian has really started delivering until they go to non employees who do not have ndas. It's already been a month since "deliveries started", what if it's 3, 4, 5 months and Ford and GM are selling cars to regular folks, will rivian still have delivered already?

Sponsored