Rivian has not been having a great time lately. The year started with a slash in production volumes, with the company down to just 25,000 units for the whole year. Ford sold a huge stake in the company shortly after, and now, owners are upset (again) because they are being told to either reconfigure their builds or cancel their Rivian R1T and R1S preorders as the brand is dropping its most affordable trim from the lineup.
"In order to deliver as many vehicles as possible, we have made the decision to discontinue the Explore Package. We realize this news is unexpected and apologize for how it impacts your plans," read an email sent to order-holders.
On the Rivian R1S, the Explore trim level kicked off the lineup at $70,000. Now, The lineup effectively starts at $75,000 for the R1S, with the R1T starting at $73,000. Here's what Rivian had to say about the cancellation:
"When we initially launched our vehicles, we planned for two packages, Adventure and Explore, to offer more variety to our customers. The Explore Package was designed as our entry option, and it was our expectation that a large number of customers would choose it. To date, only a small percentage of customers have chosen this configuration, with the vast majority selecting the Adventure trim. By focusing on the Adventure trim package, we're able to streamline our supply chain and ultimately deliver vehicles more quickly."
Basically, Rivian says it did this to get cars to customers as quickly as it can in the face of adversity. Fewer configurations mean easier production, sort of a "you can have any color you want, so long as it's black" situation.
With the company's production numbers already half of what was expected, it needs to make deliveries to get revenue in the door as quickly as possible. Still, it doesn't stop owners from being understandably upset.
Both the Rivian forums and Twitter are full of owners who don't see it Rivian's way. It's easy to see why. After waiting months, if not more for their orders, customers are now being told, in essence, "put up the cash or go home."
Should customers decide to fork over the cash, they'll be asked to reconfigure their trucks online via their Rivian accounts. Rivian has also included a table showing the additional upgrades owners get for moving up a rung on the ladder. Once that's done, Rivian says the following happens:
"Your original preorder date will set your pricing and be used for your delivery timing estimate, which we will provide as soon as it's available. Please note that switching to Adventure will not automatically result in an earlier delivery window." If changes aren't made, Rivian will remove your truck from the production order until you either reconfigure or cancel your order.
