My Rivian reservation experience

manitou202

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In addition to my Air Grand Touring reservation, I have an early reservation for a Launch Edition Rivian R1S (the SUV). I thought some of you might find it interesting to see the difference between Lucid and Rivian in terms of reservation experience and communication.

I'm replacing my Taycan with the Lucid Air GT, and our Audi E-tron with the Rivian. At least that's the plan. I placed reservations for both the Lucid and the Rivian last September.

We were contacted by our Lucid sales associate back in September to answer any early questions we might have. Then last week I was contacted by our delivery advisor. I've locked our build, discussed payment, delivery, and have submitted some of the initial paperwork. I've been told 2-4 months for delivery. WIth numerous Dream Editions being delivered every week, this seems very likely. It's been great to see several forum members take delivery and provide early feedback. Lucid seems to be doing a nice job so far and I liked the delivery kick off for the first Dream deliveries. It seemed like a really nice event.

With Rivian, other than a few standard emails, we've had no directly contact from the company. They originally said Launch Edition reservation holders would be contacted during the summer, and then changed that to November. The truck (R1T) is launching first, but Rivian had said all Launch Edition vehicles, both the truck and SUV, would be delivered late 2021 or early 2022. Today we received another update with a new delivery window. Our new window is July-Sept 2022. That essentially is pushing out the delivery another 6 months. I'm not really angry as we don't need the vehicle, but a bit disappointed to say the least. However, it seems the truck reservation holders who were really expecting delivery this year are now being told March at the earliest. Rivian put on quite the show claiming to start deliveries, but so far all of the deliveries have gone to employees or Rivian investors. There is even an individual who is driving his R1T Truck from LA to Michigan towing a car hauler, but he's unable to comment on his mileage and charging speeds, due to an NDA with Rivian. No one on the Rivian forum has taken delivery which is very surprising.
 
How did you like the E-Tron & Taycan. Currently I have the E-Tron and hope what ever I replace it with is as solid and trouble-free as it's been thus far. Of course almost anything out there will be a significant improvement on range. ;)
 
We have been very happy with both. Not a single issue with the E-tron (delivered in 2019) and only a couple of software issues with the Taycan, but nothing that left me stranded.

I think the E-tron might be the most underrated EV on sale today. It's possibly the quietest and nicest riding vehicle we've owned. It's not super fast or sporty, and the range is pretty terrible, but we have managed to drive it from Colorado to Phoenix with no issues and the range is plenty for a large metro area. The charging curve is so nice and flat that it's arguably faster charging than the Model X we used to have. The fit and finish on the E-tron compared to our Model X was night and day. The E-tron really feels like a quality built tank. Ultimately we want a 3-row EV, but I'm not a fan of the Model X. So the Rivian seems to be the best option at the moment, plus I like the ability to take it in the back country of Colorado for camping.

The Taycan is wonderful. It's completely Porsche in almost every way, including the price. My biggest complaint with the Taycan is you are paying a HUGE premium for a Porsche product. I'm confident it's the best driving EV on the market, but it's not the best EV on the market. The range is much better than the EPA estimates, but still a bit short. However, their UI feels outdated already, and there is no hiding it's a large heavy sedan. I originally sold my daily driver EV (Nissan Leaf) and my Porsche 911 to get the Taycan. I was hoping for one car to replace both, but over time I'm really missing the real sports car for the weekend. So the Lucid will replace the Taycan and I've already picked up another sports car for the weekend. The Lucid has so much more tech, range, and a much better UI compared to the Taycan. It also has more horsepower even in the Grand Touring trim. My Taycan was $205k so the Lucid seems like a steal.
 
I couldn’t agree more about the E-Tron, very underestimated. The quietness of the E-Tron is one of the reasons some probably think I obsess about that aspect of the Lucid.
 
While we can't definitely know whether Rivian intentionally misled the investor community, the Rivian S-1 amendment issued on November 5 (with less than two months of production days left in 2021 and just prior to their IPO) stated an obviously unrealistic production target.

"By the end of 2021, we intend to produce approximately 1,200 R1Ts and 25 R1Ss and deliver approximately 1,000 R1Ts and 15 R1Ss." This despite the fact that "as of October 31, 2021, [Rivian] produced 180 R1Ts and delivered 156 R1Ts. Nearly all of these vehicles were delivered to Rivian employees."

This suggests either Rivian was exploring the bounds of truthiness or was fairly naïve about the realities of car production. A wrongful termination suit claims the former, which does not reflect well on the company's reliability. It seems that with today's communication from Rivian to its Launch Edition holders, no one outside the company is going to see an R1T until March to April 2022 at the earliest. I'm guessing that even before the S-1 amendment was filed, the fact that Rivian wouldn't make its production targets should have been blatantly obvious to Rivian management. But they filed the S-1 amendment anyway (and were richly rewarded for doing so).

These actions stand in contrast to Lucid, which has so far delivered on its promises. Now, Lucid could probably stand to improve its communications (*cough* Zenith Red *cough*), but it's leagues ahead of Rivian. I feel bad for the Rivian Launch Edition reservations holders, who were being told even this month that they could expect their trucks by the end of November. How's that for communication?
 
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