Starting up a new automaker is hard. Electric truckmaker Rivian is learning this on the fly.
The company’s R1T electric pickup has been a hit with critics. They love its innovative storage cubbies (this thing is just packed with places to pack stuff), the rock-crawling prowess of a separate motor for each wheel, and the unique experience of near-silent off-roading where you can hear the stream you’re crossing burbling underneath your truck.
The company even claimed a trophy of sorts in being the first to put an electric truck in a buyer’s driveway. Rivian delivered the first R1T last fall – possibly a year before Ford gives us a second.
But the sailing hasn’t been smooth since.
A Retroactive Price Hike
On Tuesday, the company announced a new, lower-priced model that would use two electric motors in place of four. The new dual-motor R1T would carry a price tag of $67,500 plus a $1,075 destination fee.
That’s the same price the old, four-motor base model carried. Carried. Past tense.
Alongside the new model, Rivian announced a price hike for the existing four-motor truck. It would now get a $12,000 price hike, all the way to $79,500. The price hike would apply on every truck built from this point on – even those buyers had reserved months ago.
The company’s R1S SUV got the same treatment – a new dual-motor version at the cost of the old quad-motor model and a $12,000 hike on the four-motor SUV.
Walking it Back
After an understandable outcry from buyers who had already agreed to the old price, Rivian has reversed itself.
“As we worked to update pricing to reflect these cost increases, we wrongly decided to make these changes apply to all future deliveries, including pre-existing configured preorders,” CEO RJ Scaringe wrote in an email to reservation holders. “We failed to appreciate how you viewed your configuration as price locked, and we wrongly assumed the announced Dual-Motor and Standard battery pack would provide configurations that would deliver price points similar to your original configuration. While this was the logic, it was wrong, and we broke your trust in Rivian.”
The company has agreed to honor the old pricing structure for all orders placed before March 1. If you canceled your order in frustration over the price hikes, Rivian will reinstate it at the old price upon request.
Price Increase Holds for New Orders
The price hikes remain, however, for new customers.
That speaks to one of the challenges of establishing a new automaker. Many startups are selling cars through a reservation system. Rather than building thousands of cars and then offering them for sale so that buyers can choose from dealer stock, they’re selling cars to custom order. Customers reserve them before they are built.
In some cases, years before. Market shocks that radically change the cost of components – like a worldwide microchip shortage – can alter the cost of building a car on the fly. Companies that sell cars by reservation in advance can’t easily absorb those shocks.
New Pricing:
Buyers who order an R1T today, however, will have to pay the updated price. Rivian also charges a $1,075 destination fee on all its vehicles.
| Model | Drive System | Battery | MSRP |
| R1T Explore | Dual Motor | Standard | $67,500 |
| R1T Explore | Dual Motor | Large | $73,500 |
| R1T Explore | Dual Motor | Max | $83,500 |
| R1T Explore | Quad Motor | Large | $79,500 |
| R1T Explore | Quad Motor | Max | $89,500 |
| R1T Adventure | Dual Motor | Standard | $73,000 |
| R1T Adventure | Dual Motor | Large | $79,000 |
| R1T Adventure | Dual Motor | Max | $89,000 |
| R1T Adventure | Quad Motor | Large | $85,000 |
| R1T Adventure | Quad Motor | Max | $95,000 |
| R1S Explore | Dual Motor | Standard | $72,500 |
| R1S Explore | Dual Motor | Large | $78,500 |
| R1S Explore | Quad Motor | Large | $84,500 |
| R1S Adventure | Dual Motor | Standard | $78,000 |
| R1S Adventure | Dual Motor | Large | $84,000 |
| R1S Adventure | Quad Motor | Large | $90,000 |
Cox Automotive, parent company of Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader, is a minority investor in Rivian.
