Rivian reported Friday that due to a continued manufacturing ramp the wait time for brand spanking new orders on its R1T is now right down to 14 days or much less in some circumstances.
The electrical truck maker is catching up on a manufacturing backlog that when seemed prefer it may take years to work via, and it’s made vital headway—to the diploma that some may surprise if pricing could quickly should be adjusted downward.
Rivian value minimize coming?
Based mostly on remarks made this previous week to Reuters, by Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe, that’s unlikely to be the case, and Rivian has no plans to observe EV value cuts from Tesla and Ford.
“We’ll supply a decrease priced variant, however not essentially decrease costs on the issues we’re providing right this moment,” mentioned Scaringe to Reuters. “These (R1S and R1T) are the merchandise which might be constructing our model. They are not meant to promote a whole lot of 1000’s of items.”
Rivian does plan to introduce a extra reasonably priced, mass-market R2 lineup, as a consequence of be made at a brand new plant in Georgia, and positively within the a whole lot of 1000’s yearly, however that received’t arrive till 2026.
“Our long-term success as a enterprise might be decided by our potential to provide excessive volumes of automobiles profitably,” it mentioned final week, as a part of its quarterly replace for shareholders.
2023 Rivian R1T
Rivian manufacturing exceeds deliveries
For the primary quarter of the 12 months, Rivian introduced that it produced 9,395 automobiles and delivered 7,946. “We anticipate to proceed to see a variance between manufacturing and supply volumes as we ramp our manufacturing facility,” it mentioned.
The R1T presently begins at $74,800, together with the obligatory $1,800 vacation spot charge, whereas the R1S begins at $79,800. That’s for the Twin-Motor and LFP battery pack. Quad-Motor variations with the Giant pack (328 miles for the R1T, 321 miles for the R1S) price $19,000 extra—though Twin-Motor fashions with the Giant Pack, but to be delivered, are pegged at round 350 and 340 miles, respectively.
Neither the Rivian R1S nor R1T are eligible for the total $7,500 Clear Automobile Credit score, in line with the IRS, however they do each qualify for a $3,750 credit score if their MSRP (not together with vacation spot) quantities to $80,000 or much less. Those that declare it’ll additionally want to suit inside a most $150,000 adjusted gross earnings for single filers ($300,000 for joint filers).
Rivian additionally final 12 months dropped essentially the most reasonably priced Discover variations of its R1T and R1S, which additional hiked up base costs.
Past that, the corporate has an answer to boost quantity with out decreasing the value on these flagship variations: It’s steered price-conscious patrons towards Twin-Motor variations of its vehicles with the Normal pack and its lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) battery chemistry.
Rivian dual-motor parts
Rivian dual-motor parts
Longer-range Rivian Twin-Motor deliveries begin quickly
Maybe additionally in lieu of dropping costs, Rivian has drastically accelerated the timeline for delivering lower-priced Twin-Motor variations, which as lately as final 12 months hadn’t been anticipated till late in 2023. Within the first quarter of the 12 months, Rivian launched manufacturing of its personal in-house Enduro motor line. Whereas these are already going into Rivian’s vans, it confirmed in final week’s replace that these motors are going into dual-motor R1 fashions beginning later this month.
Rivian Enduro drive unit
Rivian final week reported that as of March 31 it had made about 35,000 automobiles for the reason that begin of manufacturing for the R1T. It additionally reaffirmed a 50,000 manufacturing goal for calendar 12 months 2023. That’s what the goal had initially been for 2022, however final March it halved that focus on to 25,000, pointing to persistent provide points.
As a part of its replace it mentioned it’s finishing the achievement of its “pre-March 2022 preoder base.” That’s the timing of a poorly communicated value hike on its vehicles that resulted within the firm holding to earlier, considerably decrease, costs for many who had made a deposit by then.
2023 Rivian R1S
The corporate, at its final quarterly replace, mentioned that its order backlog stretches into 2024, however within the context of brief supply timelines right this moment that seems to incorporate construct combos that merely received’t but be made this 12 months.
Simply getting a drive in a Rivian was a problem for potential patrons early on, however now the corporate additionally clarified that demo drives at the moment are open to everybody, not simply reservation-holders. Rivian Service Facilities may also have ready-to-go configurations which may be accessible for supply, in line with the corporate.
