A rising automaker like Rivian is pretty quick to back off from a price hike on its own electric cars. And if you go into details, the authoritative publication The Verge reports that Rivian has canceled the price increase for all of its customers who have already pre-ordered the R1T pickup truck and R1S SUV. And if you go into details, then absolutely anyone who ordered one of the cars up to March 1 will pay the original price, and those who canceled their pre-order will be able to restore it.
And yes, it is extremely pleasant that at the same time their prices or delivery times will not change. However, be aware that pre-orders for the affected configurations made after March 1st will still cost more. In this regard, the current head of the company, R. J. Scaringe, has already said that higher prices have “undermined the confidence” of customers, and that the automaker did not properly communicate the reasons for this unreasonable price increase. While the new prices were supposed to reflect higher production costs, hence keeping prices for new customers, Rivian “incorrectly” applied these increases to existing, pre-ordered customers.
Also according to Scaringe himself. It also erroneously assumed that customers would not mind buying cheaper dual-motor models with standard batteries if the four-motor option suddenly became too expensive. One way or another, it is not at all surprising that such a sharp and significant change in value immediately angered many of the company’s customers. Buyers of four-engine cars are facing a price that is $12,000-$20,000 higher than they expected. Some have even accused Rivian of bait-and-switch tactics. By the way, Tesla, a key competitor, historically adheres to pre-order prices regardless of any changes between the order stage and the delivery of the car. And besides, this incident is extremely untimely.
Rivian is still in the early stages of ramping up R1T deliveries and has yet to meet all of its R1S commitments. It should also be remembered and taken into account that the reputation of this automaker is still quite young and fragile – it risks doing business in full competition with Tesla, Ford and other companies with comparable electric vehicles. While reversing price hikes is likely to be painful for Rivian, the firm’s best bet is to “reinforce goodwill” with its customers.
