Rivian Starts shipping to Customer

[Ogre]

I don't understand people who come up with this idea.

Tesla's ship dates slide all over the place, but they always deliver on pre-order features and pricing (eventually). Musk has said outright that he always wants to deliver more than what's demoed and he always has (eventually).

I expect the Cybertruck will be the same.

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[Tinker71]

Even though their price is multiple of highest I have ever paid for any car, I consider their Price/Performance for today’s BEV market reasonable. I consider CT the best deal in town and Rivian is on par with CT3 on performance and price except it cost a lot more to produce with, paint, Battery pack and additional motors. But I agree with you on customer expectation on that price range when you look at the car market in general (including ICE). Except like us, Rivian guys have been waiting for so long that they are likely to put up with a bunch of initial fixes just to get their hands on the darn thing.

I am surprised about the panel gaps. I think a clear panel gap standard is missing with the public. Maybe people are too nit picky.

Rivian appeared to embrace a little more standard auto industry mentality judging by the people they hired vs Telsa that challenged most things. They have also been planning this for a long time. They should know a lot about quality programs ISO 900x? etc.

You would think the first unit off the line would be on specification or with in tolerances or it would not have been sold. The tolerances should be outlined in the QMS, (quality management system).

From my limited manufacturing experience you run the line until tolerances get out of line and then perform a periodic maintenance to bring it back to specification. Then you try to increase the PM interval and track down defects with engineering fixes and then turn up the speed of the line. This would all be part of a quality program with continuous improvement built in. This is also why the ramp up will take many months to dial in. (over and above supply issues)

 

[Diehard]

I am surprised about the panel gaps. I think a clear panel gap standard is missing with the public. Maybe people are too nit picky.

Rivian appeared to embrace a little more standard auto industry mentality judging by the people they hired vs Telsa that challenged most things. They have also been planning this for a long time. They should know a lot about quality programs ISO 900x? etc.

You would think the first unit off the line would be on specification or with in tolerances or it would not have been sold. The tolerances should be outlined in the QMS, (quality management system).

From my limited manufacturing experience you run the line until tolerances get out of line and then perform a periodic maintenance to bring it back to specification. Then you try to increase the PM interval and track down defects with engineering fixes and then turn up the speed of the line. This would all be part of a quality program with continuous improvement built in. This is also why the ramp up will take many months to dial in. (over and above supply issues)

I am not too concerned about it yet. It really was not a panel gap. It was a plastic piece misaligned and it probably had not gone through QC yet:

Everyone that has been in their vehicle says it is mighty tight and well built. the main reviews I care about is actual owners once it is delivered.

I am just impressed by people like RJ and Elon with beat up jeans on factory floor making stuff happen. I don't know any of them personally but from the distance, it makes me more tolerant of initial mishaps both for Tesla and Rivian. My reservation for both R1S and CT puts me way passed the "Initial" part.

 

[Ehninger1212]

I am not too concerned about it yet. It really was not a panel gap. It was a plastic piece misaligned and it probably had not gone through QC yet:

Everyone that has been in their vehicle says it is mighty tight and well built. the main reviews I care about is actual owners once it is delivered.

I am just impressed by people like RJ and Elon with beat up jeans on factory floor making the stuff happen. I don't know any of them personally but from the distance, it makes me more tolerant of initial mishaps both for Tesla and Rivian. My reservation for both R1S and CT puts me way passed the "Initial" part.

Probably just needs a good smack to snap the plastic retainer clips into the holes.

 

[Ehninger1212]

Congrats to Rivian. Competition is good.

 

[jerhenderson]

Can't speak for everyone, but I think most of us either like the Rivian or are neutral on it.

It has some issues, we poke fun, most of us still prefer the Cybertruck, but very few actual Rivian haters here.

I'm expecting legacy auto FUD to begin bashing a new player on the field..... complaints about panel gaps, UI, etc etc... the usual nonsense so short sellers can manipulate stock prices.

 

[jerhenderson]

well that price range was nowhere to be seen on reveal day.

 

[HaulingAss]

I would support Rivian over the Big 3 any day. The competition will push Tesla to continue improving and I'm all for it. At this point, the only Tesla killer is Tesla, itself.

Tesla is always pushing themselves to improve and this is apparent when one compares cars made a couple of years apart (or sometimes a couple of months apart).

But for Rivian to push Tesla to improve at a faster rate would require the Rivian to be competitive with the Cybertruck. But the Rivian is NOT competitive with the Cybertruck because it won't cause Tesla to reduce prices in order to sell all they can make. Sure, some people will choose the Rivian instead of the Cybertruck but that's not what forces improvement or a repricing to a lower level. As long as Tesla can sell all the Cybertrucks they can make at their chosen price, there is no true competition. But I do think Tesla's pricing on the Cybertruck caused Rivian to price their offerings lower than they would have otherwise.

 

[Ogre]

Tesla is always pushing themselves to improve and this is apparent when one compares cars made a couple of years apart (or sometimes a couple of months apart).

But for Rivian to push Tesla to improve at a faster rate would require the Rivian to be competitive with the Cybertruck. But the Rivian is NOT competitive with the Cybertruck because it won't cause Tesla to reduce prices in order to sell all they can make. Sure, some people will choose the Rivian instead of the Cybertruck but that's not what forces improvement or a repricing to a lower level. As long as Tesla can sell all the Cybertrucks they can make at their chosen price, there is no true competition. But I do think Tesla's pricing on the Cybertruck caused Rivian to price their offerings lower than they would have otherwise.

A buddy of mine was eyeballing the Rivian and when I told him I had the Cybertruck reserved he commented on how ugly it was. My reply was simply that I'll tolerate a whole lot of ugly to save $20k and get the kind of performance the Cybertruck is supposed to get. Next time I talked to him about electric trucks he was more excited about the Cybertruck than the Rivian.

There is definitely crossover purchasers, likely in both ways. If Rivian is delivering in volume, there are likely to be folks who will jump ship for an earlier ship date, we see it here. Some will jump just because Musk's crazy vision for the truck is a bridge too far.

 

[Ogre]

I'm still trying to get over the weight on the Rivian.

If the Cybertruck is that porky it's going to be disappointing. I'm really hoping it's the lightweight of the electric truck world. Seems like an easy target to beat, but this whole thing is a bit of a roller coaster.

 

[jerhenderson]

A buddy of mine was eyeballing the Rivian and when I told him I had the Cybertruck reserved he commented on how ugly it was. My reply was simply that I'll tolerate a whole lot of ugly to save $20k and get the kind of performance the Cybertruck is supposed to get. Next time I talked to him about electric trucks he was more excited about the Cybertruck than the Rivian.

There is definitely crossover purchasers, likely in both ways. If Rivian is delivering in volume, there are likely to be folks who will jump ship for an earlier ship date, we see it here. Some will jump just because Musk's crazy vision for the truck is a bridge too far.

yeah personally the Rivian didn't appeal to me at all....hence I'll gladly wait for the CT.

 

[ZARDOZ]

I hope as many people as possible ahead of me on the CT waiting list purchase a Rivian.

 

[Ogre]

Scam IPO

I'm not sold on their $80b IPO but I'm hesitant to call it a scam.

I would definitely wait until they start production and see what their production capacity is. Or buy a few shares I can risk losing at most.

 

[Crissa]

Photos don't prove an empty factory anyhow.

-Crissa

 

[ajdelange]

I don't think any of us need worry too much about the IPO. IPO's aren't for the common folk like us. At some time after the institutional investors have gobbled up all the shares some will begin to trade on the open markets. The price will stabilize. That's when we get to buy.

Also we have no idea who this whacko claiming a scam is. There are plenty of videos on the Rivian forum shot during tours of the factory. Lots of machines cranking out trucks can be seen. These tours were for early customers who were interviewed later on.

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