Just got an email from Rivian that they have discontinued the Explore package. Anyone with a pre-order that includes it will need to reconfigure to Adventure or have their pre-order cancelled. Just days after I made $100 of the deposit non-refundable, too...

​ ​ ​ We appreciate your excitement for our company and our products. We have an update that affects your preorder and want to make sure you hear about it directly from us. In order to deliver as many vehicles as possible, we have made the decision to discontinue the Explore Package. We realize this news is unexpected and apologize for how it impacts your plans. When we initially launched our vehicles, we planned for two packages, Adventure and Explore, to offer more variety to our customers. The Explore Package was designed as our entry option and it was our expectation that a large number of customers would choose it. To date, only a small percentage of customers have chosen this configuration, with the vast majority selecting the Adventure trim. By focusing on the Adventure trim package, we’re able to streamline our supply chain and ultimately deliver vehicles more quickly.​

​ ​ ​ If you decide to reconfigure to Adventure​ Visit your Account and make your selections. We’ve included a comparison table in the configurator showing the additional content offered on Adventure. Once you save your configuration, your original preorder date will set your pricing and be used for your delivery timing estimate, which we will provide as soon as it’s available. Please note that switching to Adventure will not automatically result in an earlier delivery window.​ If you do not make any updates​ If Explore is still selected in your Account as of September 1, 2022, your preorder will no longer be in our production queue until you have reconfigured your vehicle. We encourage you to reconfigure a vehicle as soon as possible. After saving your new configuration, we will send your updated delivery timing estimate when it’s available.​ If you decide to cancel your preorder​ We recognize you may choose to cancel and have your deposit refunded due to this news. If you do, we want to sincerely thank you for supporting us. We have a range of products on our roadmap and hope to welcome you back to the Rivian brand in the future.​

Me too, totally enraged and let down at the same time. This would increase my cost by nearly $8k. Guess I’ll be talking to someone and getting all my money back if i end up canceling, I’m not letting them do this. What a terrible way to run a company. Why didn’t they just offer one trim from the start and keep it simple. Does not bode well for the long term for Rivian.

 

You never expected to get your Explore in 2022, and it was questionable whether 2023 was even likely.

Give them some credit for canceling the Explore at least a YEAR BEFORE your delivery window. That's a huge change from what they've done in the past with other configurations where they first let the delivery window pass then tell you you'll still have to wait another year. Early notification like this gives you a lot of opportunity to pivot and still get a vehicle of some sort in late 2023 or early 2024 like you expected. It's not like you've already sold your current vehicle in anticipation. If you upgrade to Adventure now you will still be grandfathered in to the pre-March 1 price which is $15k-$20k below market, so you can always upgrade, buy, and flip and make a big profit. That will help to mitigate your disappointment.

Yeah it sucks you can no longer get what you wanted after so long waiting, but at least you found out early and now have the opportunity to upgrade to Adventure and get your truck much sooner.

Why didn’t they just offer one trim from the start and keep it fucking simple.

If they did this, then it for sure WOULDN'T have been the low end Explore trim, so you still wouldn't be getting an Explore. And regardless of what Rivian chose, there would have been some fraction of customers complaining. Look at all the posts about how it's UNACCEPTABLE that Rivian is missing ___ because even a 10 year old Kia POS has it!

 

Just days after I made $100 of the deposit non-refundable

They explicitly say you can get a refund if you want to cancel your preorder because of this change.

 

I can get a refund on the balance, but the recent "binding purchase agreement" designed to try to retain access to the old 30D tax credit made $100 of it non-refundable.

 

Here's what it looks like on the Rivian configurator.

 

Why did Rivian discontinue the Explore Package? - Support Center - Rivian

In order to deliver as many vehicles as possible, we have made the decision to discontinue the Explore Package. We realize this news is unexpected and apologize for how it impacts your plans. When we initially launched our vehicles, we planned to offer two packages, Adventure and Explore, to...

rivian.com

Why did Rivian discontinue the Explore package?
After weighing customer demand, Rivian decided to remove Explore Package as an option when configuring an R1T or R1S. We realize this news comes as a surprise and apologize to customers who have had their planning impacted.
When we initially launched our vehicles, we planned to offer two packages, Adventure and Explore, to offer more variety to our customers. The Explore Package was designed as our entry price option and it was our expectation that many customers would choose it. However, to date, only a small percentage of our customers have chosen this configuration with the vast majority selecting Adventure.
By focusing on the Adventure trim package, we’re able to streamline our supply chain and ultimately deliver vehicles more quickly.
What are my options?

• Reconfigure to Adventure Package
• Do nothing
• Cancel your preorder

How do I reconfigure to Adventure Package?
Visit your account page and make your new selections. Once you’ve updated your configuration, we’ll provide a new delivery window estimate as soon as it’s available.
Please note that switching from Explore to Adventure will not automatically result in earlier delivery timing.
What happens if I do nothing?
If you haven’t reconfigured by September 1, we’ll remove your preorder from our production queue until you’ve updated your configuration. Your preorder date will be stored, and you'll be able to configure through your Account Page when you’re ready.
As a reminder, until you update your configuration, we will not be able to provide you with a delivery window estimate.
How do I cancel my preorder?
You can cancel your preorder through your account page or by contacting the Customer Engagement Center.
If I signed a binding order agreement but want to cancel my order because of this update, will I receive a full refund?
Through September 16, any Explore customer who would like to cancel their order and receive a full refund may do so. Because we no longer plan to produce the vehicle you had configured when signing the binding order agreement, we will agree to terminate that agreement and refund your full deposit amount. Your binding order agreement cannot be reinstated.
Please contact the Customer Engagement Center if you’d like to pursue this option.
If I cancelled my order because of this update but would like to reinstate it, can I restore my preorder?Through September 16, any Explore customer who cancels and then decides to return to Rivian will be able to reinstate their preorder. This means both the preorder date and pricing associated with your canceled preorder will be honored upon reinstatement.
If you’d like to reinstate your preorder and meet the requirements above, please place a new reservation and then contact the Customer Engagement Center.

 

This is really lame and I’m so sorry for everyone who has had to endure the constant heartache, headaches and frustrations from Rivian. It feel is like the only positive over the last few months has been the “pre-order price hike walk back” and that’s it. The communication this summer has been terrible at best and now even more bad news. When will we get some good news? I’m an adventure trim preorder and lucky that this won’t affect me, but I really feel for everyone who had an explore trim. I totally understand how this might be a deal breaker for you.

 

I'm having a hard time understanding what everyone is so upset about. Rivian is essentially selling every, single truck they make right now at a loss due to the crazy inflation we've seen in the commodities markets since they started taking preorders. When they tried to correct that and get profitable, everyone freaked out and Rivian did the right thing and acquiesced.

Now, they make another change to try to increase production, and slow the hemorrhaging, and everyone's mad again....

How do you expect them to win with you?

As a start-up automobile company (NO SMALL FEAT), these small fine-tuning changes shouldn't come as a surprise.

As Rivian continues to learn and try to figure out the optimal roll-out strategies to ramp up production as high as possible, there are inevitably going to be adjustments like this..... which I'd MUCH rather see than the alternative, which is to not adjust and not get better at their craft as they ramp up, and just continue selling cars and trucks at a loss and continue to string us out longer and longer.......

Whatever helps this young company streamline, increase efficiency, output, and profit - I'm all for. Otherwise, we'll all be driving trucks from a defunct company in 5 years.

Sorry, but the constant sniveling and crying from people who knowingly invested in a start-up before seeing anything is really frustrating to watch. This bit of a roller-coaster should have been expected in a perfect world... which we all know isn't what we're in...... How anyone is surprised by these minor tweaks is beyond me.

Sounds to me like you don't have the stomach for this endeavor and should just go with a more established proposition like Ford or Tesla.

Keep your head up Rivian. You're not doing everything right, but I see the effort and I see the hustle. I can't wait for my R1T and then my R1S........ (which will now both apparently have Adventure packages... lol)....

Hang in there guys. It'll all be worth it in the end.

 

I'm having a hard time understanding what everyone is so upset about. Rivian is essentially selling every, single truck they make right now at a loss due to the crazy inflation we've seen in the commodities markets since they started taking preorders. When they tried to correct that and get profitable, everyone freaked out and Rivian did the right thing and acquiesced.

Now, they make another change to try to increase production, and slow the hemorrhaging, and everyone's mad again....

How do you expect them to win with you?

As a start-up automobile company (NO SMALL FEAT), these small fine-tuning changes shouldn't come as a surprise.

As Rivian continues to learn and try to figure out the optimal roll-out strategies to ramp up production as high as possible, there are inevitably going to be adjustments like this..... which I'd MUCH rather see than the alternative, which is to not adjust and not get better at their craft as they ramp up, and just continue selling cars and trucks at a loss and continue to string us out longer and longer.......

Whatever helps this young company streamline, increase efficiency, output, and profit - I'm all for. Otherwise, we'll all be driving trucks from a defunct company in 5 years.

Sorry, but the constant sniveling and crying from people who knowingly invested in a start-up before seeing anything is really frustrating to watch. This bit of a roller-coaster should have been expected in a perfect world... which we all know isn't what we're in...... How anyone is surprised by these minor tweaks is beyond me.

Sounds to me like you don't have the stomach for this endeavor and should just go with a more established proposition like Ford or Tesla.

Keep your head up Rivian. You're not doing everything right, but I see the effort and I see the hustle. I can't wait for my R1T and then my R1S........ (which will now both apparently have Adventure packages... lol)....

Hang in there guys. It'll all be worth it in the end.

I agree. No small feat to start an EV company from scratch. If you are not flexible...get your deposit back and move on to a manufacturer you THINK can do a better job, but in my opinion you will deal with the same problems wherever you go. every manufacturer is going to go through these problems, and you will need to be a resilient consumer if you want an EV in the next 2 years. I AM glad I ordered well before the price hike and walk back. I can switch back to the ocean coast. Hanging in there. NOT A TESLA FAN!

 

As someone who started out with Explore but (grudgingly) changed to Adventure to get my truck, I can honestly say that I was glad that I did it, even while maintaining my, “it’s just a truck” attitude. I realize that $6K isn’t chump change and might put it out of reach for some people. I can’t say if the differences are worth that much (that’s an individual decision), but in terms of comfort, convenience and long-term resale value, the Adventure package might be worth the stretch.
I do call shenanigans on Rivian’s claim that there were “few orders” for it. They oughta do something for Explore pre-order holders, at least as a gesture of good will.

 

I took delivery on a Adventure package R1T a few months ago and immediately put in an order for and R1S for my wife. There is no way I would order the Explore package on either vehicle especially after having the adventure package set up. Rivian has realized that offering so many different combinations is backlogging their production and is fixing it.
When I first did my pre order for the R1t in 2019 it was assumed that the upper end vehicles would be delivered first.
I believe once they get their backlog caught up they will offer a lesser expensive version with the R2 line that RJ alluded to in his 2nd quarter earnings call.

 

I agree. I think they're doing the best they can to streamline production. It might upset people but there's plenty of people in line that will gladly take an earlier slot if a people cancel. Just look at the secondary market, people are willing to pay premium because they don't want to wait in line and most investors still say R1T's are undervalued. In my opinion, the first R1S that will be re-sold will go much higher. It sucks, for sure, but it's also a new company...I was surprised they kept the other interiors to be honest. People forget that the company needs to make deliveries if they want to be around in the next coming years. Maybe it allows people to re-evaluate what they're purchasing. Or like you said, wait for the R2...

 

I can't tell the difference between Explore & Adventure besides the price? I thought the Explore came with the cover, the Adventure doesn't. Mine has been on order since Dec., I'm pretty confused about the whole thing they seem exactly the same. I've been seeing them about here in CA & saw a few in Oregon last week. My wait was for ocean coast interior, feel a little punished for not ordering just black & be done with it.

 

Aha! I found the comparison chart!! OK, considering this will probably be my last car & when I drove it in San Francisco I loved it, I'm good with this. I want the wood paneling anyway, and one of the things I liked about driving it was the lumbar support. It has it in the passenger seat too, which will be nice if my H drives it or my son & I'm a passenger. I have back stuff, can barely sit in a sedan or the Tesla's. The seat was perfect for my back.

Besides, I'm supposedly locked in on the pricing (although looks like coughing up more). They priced them years ago, before COVID & manufacturing woes. I'm staying put for now.

 

Fooled me once! I'm beyond incredibly frustrated with Rivian at this point. I understand inflation however this is simple a manufacturing incompetence tax that they are passing on to their committed reservation holders. The opinion of the reservation holders who will now be paying an extra $6000 more than they were promised won't matter because they can't deliver a fraction of the cars on the reservation list before 2024. The marketing mirage of building a different kind of car company was a cute MIT marketing shtick but in reality the bottom line is the only priority or loyalty they have. It's not the environment, the Rivian community, a sustainable future. It's the dollar that dictates 100% of their decision making.
A good lesson in life is when a person or this case Rivian shows you who they are, believe them. RJ and his team did it once with the price hike they later pulled back and then today when they found a different "package" to accomplish the same thing.
I feel like at this point a base BEV F150 Lightning with a camper shell will accomplish 95% of what the Rivian can at a lower price on a better timeline with established quality. It won't turn heads in the mall parking lot, soccer practice or at the coffee shop like the Rivian, but it will get us environmentally conscious outdoor enthusiast to and from our next adventure the exact same way.

 

I feel like at this point a base BEV F150 Lightning with a camper shell will accomplish 95% of what the Rivian can at a lower price on a better timeline with established quality.

Look...I have one. A 2022 to boot that's $9,000 cheaper than a 2023 version and I will be the first to tell you that you will not accomplish 95% of what the Rivian can do on a better timeline.

You still can't even order a F-150L if you don't already have a reservation. You at least have one with Rivian. If price is the primary concern, the F-150L will absolutely do and in a spectacular fashion. The truck its very well equip and capable at it's price point.

But the extra battery size? The drivers +? The better sound system? The extra power? The better handling? Better brakes? The glass roof? The more luxurious interior? All positives on the R1T, especially if you have pre-march pricing. Pre March R1T Adventure vs 2023 F-150L Pro is approximately a $20k difference. Those things above are worth more than $20k. You get maybe 70% of what the R1T offers, and we'll say another 5-10% of extra features, but not 95%.

 

No matter what you buy right now everything is going up. Check out the Ford Lightning with that $7,000 increase even if you were a reservationist since last year plus Dealer $10,000-$40,000 over msrp . Cyber Truck no $40,000, $50,000. It will probably a Tri motor and will be over $100,000. I think the Rivian Adventure package is still a Great Buy for Pre March 1 reservationist.

 

Welcome to the forum. Seeing it from that angle really helps, especially when considering what makes the R1T and R1S different from other EVs. Sure there are other upscale EVs to choose from but none rival Rivian directly enough.

Holding out to see how Rivian responds to the current drop off of customers might be worth it.

 

So, what’s next?
After three months later, they send you another email: not so many people select white and silver, go fxxxing upgrade to other color or go ahead cancel you order! BTW, we gonna do the same thing for you on those standard wheel, just give us your fxxing money!

Shame on you Rivian! Specially you doing this after the Fxxing Biden sign the stupid Tax law. You company just thinking we been tie on your boat, and no where to go…..

 

Ford will see an influx of base Lightning orders thanks to this. Hard to pass it up for the starting MSRP/OTD. It should force Rivians hand into doing something, probably more so than anything else at the moment.

 

Not impressed. I get the whole growing pains and streamlining issues. Regardless, my wife and I were very pissed off at getting this cancellation e-mail.

Here in Canada, that pushes us into luxury tax territory, where we'll have pay that 20% tax on anything over 100K.

My wife wants to cancel our reservation and order a Wagoneer instead. I've convinced her to wait and see if Rivian will try to make-up for this (at least partially) before I cancel my order. With the price change 6 months ago and now the cancellation of Explore, Rivian looks like a big bait-and-switch operation. Let's just say we're now having trust issues with Rivian.

As a gesture of goodwill, they could offer us something like choosing our vehicle colour free of charge... painting a car yellow should not cost them $3400 CDN more than the silver car. By cancelling Explore, they'll save money... why don't they pass some of it down to their very patient customers?

What pisses me off most is I now fear they'll come up with another racket a few months down the road. Something like "triple your deposit, and get your car earlier" or like "we're cancelling LA Silver because of too few orders, please choose another colour."

Very displeased customer.
Marc

 

Rivian could definitely be doing more. You'd think being a new automaker trying to rival the big four would push them to be more competitive during a time like now, but nope. With the current backlash there's some chance they'll respond by offering something.

 

I just read this thread and outside of the OP, there were exactly 4 replies where people were enraged. All 4 of them joined the forum today.

I realize the irony that I joined today as well, but I’m not posting here to make any waves. All of the seasoned posters had level-headed responses. I have a longstanding Adventure reservation, but if I had an Explore reservation and that extra cost affected me, I’d pay the extra $6k and flip my Rivian for a handsome profit.

I’m not a subscriber to conspiracies, but anyone can post on a forum. I’ve read enough crappy Yelp reviews to learn to disregard one-offs.

 

I just read this thread and outside of the OP, there were exactly 4 replies where people were enraged. All 4 of them joined the forum today.

I'm the OP and I am not enraged. I was considering moving to adventure anyway to move up my timeline, and because I have cooled (not just ventilated!) seats in my i-pace and I've started to think of them as a must-have feature. I'm a bit frustrated to lose the choice, but as others have pointed out, my truck is at least a year away so it's not like I had the rug pulled out from under me.

I ended up updating my config. My main concern now, as others have pointed out, is that I am hoping this allows me to still be grandfathered into the 30D credit. Even at a $6k increase, retaining the credit still puts me $1500 ahead of where I would be should I cancel my reservation.

 

Second the above post. I’m a max pack adventure reservation holder x2 years. I specifically joined to provide, what sounds like, much needed financial advice. Pure and simple: You should not be purchasing an >$70k vehicle if $6,000 is a big deal to you. Period.

 

This is true.

There's also less of an incentive for Rivian or any automaker that sells vehicles in similar segments to offer anything like it. The ball is in their court these days and it will be hard finding something comparable.

As much as I would like to buy something else, nothing comes close to the R1T or R1S

I'm also a big Ford fan and love the Lightning, but it just doesn't do it for me.

 

I can totally understand everyone that's pissed, this is kind of how start ups go though.
The good news about Rivian is that they are actually on the road & being delivered.

I loved my F150, sold it to my brother & I could have got what I paid for it with 100k miles on it. I've never seen another electric truck on the roads, even being tested, besides Rivians.
I'm going to hang in there, especially because I ordered last year & feel it's still a decent price.
Bottom line is, what do you think the truck is worth & if you don't agree with that price then don't buy it. That's their offer & that seems fair.
If I'd never seen one on the road or did a test drive, I'd be out. They're awesome cars, I'm totally excited still.

 

Tesla played a similar game with the Model 3. Remember the under $40K “basic model” that never happened? When I received my email from Tesla in January 2018 that I could have a Model 3 as long as it was the “Long Range” model, I was happy to get it. I still have it. The point is, Rivian is an EV start up company and has to adjust to the current market and economy. I test drove the R1T and know that the R1S will be worth the wait, especially at the pre March 1 price. I originally ordered the Adventure Package and believe it is worth the extra cost.

 

Yes, I'm new to this forum. I came here because I am in disbelief and angered by this bait and switch. I typically like to read the other entires in a forum because sometimes they temper or modify my opinion, but...

...I'm sorry, I don't get how some of you don't see how nuts and enraging this is. I parked with Rivian ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS (not $100, as it is at other companies; and--keep in mind--if Rivian goes belly up, which is a lot more likely with Rivian than it is with, say, Ford, I probably wouldn't get that money back) that they have been holding, for over a year, for a truck that looked awesome (I went to one of the launch events and got to ride in one) and was in my price range. When I put that precious money in their hands, they suggested that they'd have the truck for me within a couple months. Then (after a hugely successful IPO...hmmmm), they quickly pushed that estimated delivery back to two years at the earliest before I'd get my truck; two months to...TWO YEARS.

Then they raised the price (though yes, walked it back). All the while, I have passed up ordering or purchasing any other EV (or any other car, really) because I couldn't wait to get my Rivian that was exactly how I wanted it in the price range I could afford.

Then I get the email telling me that the strategy is to make $100 non-refundable in order to retain my EV tax credit. I actually applauded Rivian for being proactive about the murky EV credit legislation. But at that point, as we're going into truly non-refundable land, I spent hours doing serious research trying to figure out if I wanted to wait for this phantom Rivian truck that seems to be elusive, or if I wanted to finally give up and pursue a vehicle that can actually get delivered in the next year. I mean, I spent some serious hours thinking about that, and finally gave up and figured, "what the hell, I've spent more than $100 of my time agonizing over this so I'll just pay the $100 and figure it out later."

Then, not one week later (are you telling me they didn't know this explorer package thing when they sent the $100 non-refundable email), I get this note saying that they are discontinuing the Explore package. And their TOTAL BS reason about people not ordering that Explore package...let's call a spade a spade--they can't make money anymore on the Explore so they are just conveniently discontinuing. I think it is totally disingenuous to hide behind "nobody was ordering." I'd like to see the real figures on pre-orders for the Explore package; my hunch is that it may have even outpaced the Adventure package, as there's really not much upgrade there (IMHO).

For those of you who are saying "it's a tough market" and "it's an awesome truck" and "you've got to work with Rivian"....well, I say maybe Rivian (and yes, most all EV makers who are doing pre-orders) need to be way WAY more honest with their customers about timelines, potential price changes, and reality (have any of the Rivian adventure charging stations actualy been built?). They are taking our money up front--again, to the tune of $1K with Rivian--and putting that money to work in their business. It's unethical.

I actually already drive an EV, but one that I've been wanting to upgrade for years. I have been an evangelist for EV's, but now all the people I've been preaching to are coming back to me and saying, "all this hype and nobody actually has a car for sale."

The local Volkswagen dealership posts five ID4's for sale, and I even called to confirm, and they said "yes, come on down." But when my wife (it was for her) and I drove an hour down to actually talk to them about purchasing one (all cash, that day), we were informed that all four were actually pre-sold models and they were just advertising them "in case the buyers changed their minds"; they told us we could be put on a list and perhaps, maybe, possibly, hopefully, if the stars align, we could order one that might get here in six months...or maybe a year.

I'm now 100% convinced that, if I were to wait two more years, there would be more than one more Rivian email that begins "We appreciate your excitement for our company and our products. We have an update that affects your pre-order..."

All this false marketing is not only maddening, but it is putting a bad taste in everyone's mouths about EV's. And I think Rivian might be the worst culprit after this latest shenanigan. I'm finally over it and am cancelling my Rivian order and I sure as hell expect to get my entire $1K back and not just $900; hell, it would be nice if they paid me some interest for the $1K I've loaned them for over a year. I can't believe I hung on this long for a truck that they never had any ability nor intention to deliver--I feel like I was just used to get a rich IPO price that made RJ rich...

 

Although it sucks, I hope they end up giving a $7 500 credit like what VinFast is doing. It would drive Rivian further into debt but could very well pay off big time by not losing nearly as many buyers. Maybe we can make some noise around them doing that.

 

You're ranting about some things that are just not true. Specifically, Rivian stated explicitly that if you want to cancel due to the Explore trim being canceled, then they will give you your entire $1000 back even if you signed the "binding purchase agreement". (This would be a good time for you to "read the other entires in a forum" like you neglected to do, since this has been stated several times just in this thread alone.) If you agonized over signing the agreement, that was just wasted time - that agreement was the only chance you had of qualifying for the old tax credit since the Explore trim was never expected to ship this year. Signing was a no-brainer. That's a couple of paragraphs of your insinuations that are just plain wrong.

Likewise, you're worried about Rivian going bankrupt? They have $15 billion in cash. There is no danger of them going bankrupt any time in the next few years. Maybe back in 2018 there was a chance they would go out of business and you wouldn't see your money again, but after several rounds of multi-billion dollar investments in the company, and by the time you put your money down, it was a virtual guarantee that you would be able to get your money back if you wanted. Still is.

You don't seem to have read your preorder agreement - you were the one who decided to give them $1000, and for that they promised you exactly NOTHING except that it was refundable and you would have a place in line to perhaps buy a vehicle IF they perhaps decided to sell you a vehicle. And the price of that vehicle was explicitly not guaranteed and subject to change. They didn't promise a date, or a specific set of features, and you've always been free to walk away if things changed to the point where you didn't want what they were offering anymore. In particular, that money is NOT a deposit on a vehicle, and you have NOT actually ordered a vehicle yet.

When you say "let's call a spade a spade--they can't make money anymore on the Explore so they are just conveniently discontinuing" you're about 180 degrees wrong. You do realize Rivian is losing money on the LE and the Adventure trims? You assume that the margins on the Explore trim are less, and I think that's probably right, but that means that they are losing LESS money on the Explore trim than the other two. So discontinuing Explore is actually causing Rivian to LOSE money (over and above the sunk costs of the development). The LE and Adventure trims are losing a lot of money because they're still priced at 2018 levels while everything else in the world has gone up a lot, and if they shipped only Explore trims they could be losing a lot less.

I also call BS on your delivery timing story. You don't provide a lot of specifics, but I gather you preordered a R1T(?) with Explore trim just before the IPO. So maybe mid 2021. If that's the case, then there is absolutely no way that anyone led you to believe you would have your truck in "two months". Rivian emailed you a personalized delivery window in December 2021, which would have been shortly after you placed your preorder. For an Explore trim you were maybe given a 2H23 delivery window? Regardless, your whole "two months to...TWO YEARS" story doesn't meet the smell test. No one ever told you two months, as Rivian hadn't even started customer deliveries at that point AND there were about 48,000 orders in front of you that needed to be delivered first. In the IPO filing Rivian estimated first year production at 25,000 units, so no way a reasonable person would have expected a late-order Explore edition in two months. For your order, it's ALWAYS been "two years", and never "two months".

And you don't really have a much of a cause to complain here because they're giving you more than a year's advance notice that they're not going to deliver your Explore trim. Plenty of time for you to deal with the consequences of that. If you change to Adventure, you'll likely get delivery in the next 6 month, and still at the grandfathered price and still qualify for the old tax credit. That's a better bet than you have with the ID.4 or the F-150L, or the bz4x (assuming Toyota can figure out how to keep the wheels from falling off...) or Cybertruck or Canoo, or ... take your pick. Again, it's still a full year before you expected to see the truck, and that's plenty of time to find another vehicle. If you "passed up ordering or purchasing any other EV" then that implies you needed a car before now, but as you should never have expected your Rivian by now I don't see how that could be true. You have a full year now to figure out an alternative, or to stick with Rivian.

You know, Rivian has made a lot of mistakes, mostly in communication, but that doesn't mean they're to blame for everything. In your case, a lot of the fault is on you for not understanding what you were signing and for jumping to unwarranted conclusions that can't be backed by facts. You're doing a lot of whining for someone who's only been waiting a year and who has a delivery date a year in the future. There are a lot of other people who have been waiting almost FOUR years and have delivery windows in the PAST - those are the ones who have a real cause to complain.

 

I can't understand why people constantly complaining about the changes Rivian makes. Why do people always see it from their perspective? They need to make those changes out of necessity. We placed our reservations on April, 10th and yes we missed out, but that's not a reason to complain. That's how it is. I'm proud to be one day a Rivian owner and support a young American company. And people need to take their time to read first instead of throwing their frustration out on the internet. It will indeed price out some people, but I disagree with the bait-and-tackle allegations, same for the EV tax credit. If that's one of the people's biggest concerns then don't buy the R1T and R1S, wait till the R2 comes available. There will be plenty of other vehicles eligible for the $7500. Every day we facing disappointments it's the strength to learn how to cope with them. I agree with the comments made on this post about the value of the Adventure package and that Rivian made mistakes on the valuation of their products in the first place, but that doesn't mean it's all Rivian's fault. Look around, all EV car manufacturers need to increase their pricing. Tesla did it 5x over the last year as a result of the ongoing supply chain issues and rising commodities. I believe they make the right decisions by streamlining and simplifying their processes. Cost control and max production are Key here to survive long-term. And I won't deny that I am a passionate Rivian supporter, we desperately need more EV manufacturers than only the big 4 in the US. In the end, the consumer will be the winner.

 

Welcome to the forum. I think this is a good take on Rivian and the overall industry at the moment. As mentioned before, waiting to see what Rivian does might just pay off, but of course there's no telling if/when that will happen.

 

I know some people are saying oh it's just " $6k blah blah ". It's the principle, and Just bad business. They're passing the cost down before they even start mass delivering cars. Making future buyers nervous too, cause they can raise price again in 3 month if they want. Rivian gonna be in trouble once Cyber truck get released.

 

Do you really think Rivian wants to do this? Those of us who ordered a Rivian vehicle did it for apparently very different reasons. I did it to help lower my carbon footprint and help re-establish American manufacturing and provide jobs. None of us wanted that ugly ass Cybertruck or we would have ordered one from that egotistical goof. I am gonna smirk every time I see one of those goofy mothers on the road. IF WE EVER DO!

 

I reserved a Cybertruck before I ordered my R1S. I will keep my Cybertruck reservation even if the R1S comes first. I’ve had 2 Teslas to date and am used to waiting for them. I agree that the Supercharger Network is a very strong plus for Tesla. Nevertheless, I plan on keeping my R1S.

 

I AM a 2022 F150 reservation holder as well. I did have to elect for upgraded package for the larger battery pack. However Ford was very clear and transparent on the price and to date hasn’t asked me for additional money now that their prices have gone up.
As well, what exactly is preventing Rivian from discontinuing additional entry level options ie…. Wheels, paint etc. As a two car reservation holder who has given Rivian $2000 in good faith to deliver a product at the stated price I feel this bait and switch is Ridiculous.
I cancelled R1T order yesterday. I’ll wait and see on the R1S. Maybe Rivian will do something to make this right. I’m doubtful at this point as they waited until the first price increase was an afterthought for reservation holders and just reinvented the price increase packaged differently.
I may have overstated an F150 with a camper shell can accomplish 95% of the R1T, but it will accomplish 70% at a far superior value, and believe it or not more corporate integrity.

 

I AM a 2022 F150 reservation holder as well. I did have to elect for upgraded package for the larger battery pack. However Ford was very clear and transparent on the price and to date hasn’t asked me for additional money now that their prices have gone up.

My understanding of Ford's process was that your reservation puts you in line at your local dealer, and that you still have to negotiate the final price with them. I am skeptical that you will be able to get a dealer to sell you an F150L at last year's prices.

 

Agree with most of what has been posted, both from frustrated Explorer trim pre-order customers and those offering support for Rivian's latest business decision. Both perspectives make sense, and I am not sure they have to be mutually exclusive of one another. It is possible for Rivian to make a logical operational decision to eliminate the Explorer trim due to low demand, ease of production, etc., and still have pre-order customers rightfully disappointed that the decision was made (for any number of reasons). Most of us learned long ago that life isn't always fair, but I am not convinced that it means you lose your right to feel frustrated or disappointed when things don't go the way you had planned or even rightfully expected them to go.

Honestly, these developments do create some additional anxiety for me as well, and I switched my trim from Explorer to Adventure last calendar year in the hopes that it would advance my delivery. This latest development just leaves me wondering if/when the (an)other shoe will drop that impacts a different category of pre-order customers. Only time will tell, and I am still holding out hope that I will get "the" e-mail or phone call soon (and prior to anything else major happening). Hopefully all of this talk of production ramping up comes to pass, and everyone with a pre-order gets their vehicles this year or next without too many more major surprises.

When the March price increase was announced, I did take a breath and a step back before I did anything. In the end it all worked out at that point in time. I would encourage Explorer pre-order holders to do the same. Don't cancel out of impulse, and see how things develop in the next few days. Not sure I would expect a Rivian back-track on the decision this time (but who knows), but it looks like you have lots of time to make a choice based on the posted e-mail Rivian sent.

All that said, I don't agree with the comments that suggest that only people who can afford to suck up unexpected price increases should have been pre-order customers in the first place. Is it wise to budget for unexpected contingencies...absolutely; did I....yes; is it a pre-requisite...not really.

 

I had originaly ordered the explorer trim but decided to get the adventure package. I was not suprised by the original price hike. I would have thought that they would have put off the explorer package for a number of years instead of cancelling it especially if there were not so many orders as this will give them bad press. I'm sorry but maybe I will get my R1S a little sooner ... unless they cancel that too. You would have thought they whould have learned something. Still, don't complain, buy it, filp it and take your 10 to 20 k profit.