Rivian’s Languorous Manufacturing Pace

[Ogre]

Can’t make this nonsense up. How can you make a $100 billion truck company’s inability to actually make trucks sound cool? CNET sure tried.

CNET posted an article talking about the fact that it’s likely to take Rivian 2 full years to service their 50k order backlog and the way they do it is.. bizarre.

Building cars is hard, like, monumentally difficult as the folks at Rivian are learning. Examples of the startup's all-electric and much-delayed R1T pickup started trickling to customers in September, but if you reserved one of these cool trucks, you still may not get it until 2023.

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/you-may-not-get-your-rivian-r1t-until-2023/#ftag=CAD-09-10aai5b

It’s not their fault though…

But why the languorous manufacturing pace? Well, you can blame a certain global health emergency. … The good news is, Rivian is aiming to ramp up production as quickly as possible.

I just love how Tesla has “Production Hell” and cranks out more than 100k Model 3s in a year. Rivian is going to take 2 years filling their 50,000 pre-orders and it’s a “Languorous Manufacturing Pace”. Almost like waiting around a day at the spa.

This is why Tesla had to sell a million cars before their market cap hit $100b and Rivian managed to hit $100b after… 125? Marketing.

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[rr6013]

To wit: The End of Free Press as in unpaid press coverage versus freedom of the Press. I don’t think Marketing is even in-play. Tesla shills all its own press, free as in no Marketing as in not even a Marketing department. Cnet article here joins Forbes et al. in pressing forward with the best press they offer.

I used to be able to parse the biased from fake but this, this is entering Magical Realism - fiction blurring fantasy and reality.

 

[TruckDaddy]

The front end of the Rivian is a deal-breaker for me with the ? nerdy eyeglasses look. Then, it finishes with the metro Honda Ridgeline look throughout.

NOT for $90k. Maybe 30k.

 

[Ogre]

The front end of the Rivian is a deal-breaker for me with the ? nerdy eyeglasses look. Then, it finishes with the metro Honda Ridgeline look throughout.

NOT for $90k. Maybe 30k.

If they had a 2WD version with 300 miles of range for under $45k, and you could actually buy it today, I’d buy it. Starting at $67k doesn’t make any sense to me though.

Also, cracking up at “Metro Honda Ridgeline”. I‘m ok with the styling on both, though the goofy headlight thing is WTF.

 

[swengl]

I can stomach the look of the truck, but it is too small. A 4.5' truck bed (with the tailgate up) is just too small for my needs. I like the fact that there is another player in the game though, it should keep Tesla innovating to make sure they stay out in front.

 

[Diehard]

I like the SUV but driving around with half the efficiency of a Y on road most of the time may bug me a bit. The headlights looked funky to me at first but people say it is not that bad in person. Besides I think there are too many angry cars out there. We could use more goofy.

Some of the folks that bought at $78 have already made +25% in one day. Long term would be interesting to watch since the first ”independent" review just came out from Edmonds and no real customers (none employees) have had one yet.

 

[Ogre]

Checks out.

@Diehard working hard to maintain the goofy. I can respect that. I’m a big fan of goofy. I wouldn’t have any trouble driving the Rivian. The price is my hold up.

Some of the folks that bought at $78 have already made +25% in one day.

Share prices bump around a lot after IPO. Doesn’t mean a ton. Lets see what six months down the road looks like before we start talking about it as an investment.

Right now they are worth more than most major auto companies and haven’t produced their first 500 vehicles. It’ll be exciting to see what their market cap looks like after they hit 1000!

 

[Diehard]

I can stomach the look of the truck, but it is too small. A 4.5' truck bed (with the tailgate up) is just too small for my needs. I like the fact that there is another player in the game though, it should keep Tesla innovating to make sure they stay out in front.

6’ 10” with tailgate down. A bed extender could make it tolerable for infrequent use but it is definitely not a work truck.

 

[Crissa]

The thing Rivian forgot is that they're in Roadster mode.

But Tesla didn't have as much built or as many orders or customers at the time. Tesla had to modify their IPO to count the unmodified NUMMI factory they were buying. They were very undervalued at the time.

-Crissa

 

[Ogre]

Saw this post on TMC comparing Rivian’s IPO to Tesla’s

Sums up my feelings quite well.

By the time Tesla‘s Market Cap was $100b we’d seen hundreds and hundreds of articles about how people buying TSLA were speculating. Yet here we are with Rivian which is much riskier at this price point and nobody in the media is calling this out as being high risk and speculative?

I stole the post from here:
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/thr...ors-roundtable.139047/page-15237#post-6111029

 

[DarinCT]

Saw this post on TMC comparing Rivian’s IPO to Tesla’s

Sums up my feelings quite well.

By the time Tesla‘s Market Cap was $100b we’d seen hundreds and hundreds of articles about how people buying TSLA were speculating. Yet here we are with Rivian which is much riskier at this price point and nobody in the media is calling this out as being high risk and speculative?

I stole the post from here:
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/thr...ors-roundtable.139047/page-15237#post-6111029

I think all EV comers and Rivian should send Tesla a thank you card.

Tesla had shown it can be done
???
Rivian is worth $100B

No first line, no profit. Sure, I'm bending the truth to prove a point. In reality, Amazon and the investment* bankers set the valuation, go shopping for investors, and then have an "offering" but it's already preordained valuation. So yeah, it's "worth" $100B because they made it so.

*autocorrect initially put wrote investment as incest which is fitting

 

[FutureBoy]

You mean because the motion will take the front end out of view as it drives away?

 

[Crissa]

Rivian has delivered two products, and Tesla only had delivered one product at its IPO and announced the second.

-Crissa

 

[swengl]

Another difference between Tesla and Rivian is the fact that Rivian is being backed by Amazon (last I heard, it was a 20% stake) at its IPO. While this fact may bolster confidence in Rivian's ability to survive, it also complicates how Rivian will operate: We have already seen Amazon use its influence to supersede consumer purchases. If Rivian doesn't build out the support structure (service centers, galleries/stores, charging infrastructure), how well will they do with the consumer market once Amazon has electrified their fleet?

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