Rivian is being accused of moving orders placed after its 20% price hike ahead of those who placed their reservations before that date.
Rivian sent out updates to its reservation holders this week, as it typically does every few months, in which it either delayed or bumped up delivery dates (or sometimes stays the same). In a poll of buyers on the Rivian Forums, many who put in their orders after the price increase last March will now take deliveries ahead of orders placed before that time. This has upset some people, who have shared their grievances online.
“Not to happy with the news. Previous Estimate: April 2023- June 2023 New Estimate: Oct 2023 – Dec 2023. Sept 2020 Preorder,” wrote one R1S reservation holder.
Users of the Rivian subreddit forum have also shared similar updates. An informal tracking system maintained by one of the Redditors shows orders placed after the price hike have moved up 150 days on average.
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Some tried to say this is not Rivian attempting to pad their financials by selling higher priced vehicles first, but rather that delays were because the owner was not located close to a service center, something which Rivian has explained in the past as a rationale for how they were prioritizing deliveries. Many reservation holders stated however that they were within a few miles of a service center, but still had their date moved back.
“Pushed back three months from April-June to July-September 2023. April 2021 pre-order: red with black interior 22 inch bright wheels. Service center about 15 miles from my house,” wrote another reservation holder.
Drive Tesla has also been able to confirm with several Canadian reservation holders who placed their order before the price increase that their date has also been pushed back, behind those who placed orders after the price hike.
This potential issue was first reported by Business Insider, which reached out to Rivian for comment. While they declined to comment on specifics, a spokespoerson said “delivery window estimates are based on a number of factors, including delivery location, configuration and original preorder or reservation date.”
Rivian increased the price of the quad-motor R1S from $70,000 to $84,500, while the dual-motor variant jumped from $70,000 to $78,000.
There was a swift backlash when Rivian applied the new prices to existing orders. However, the startup quickly backtracked, allowing early order-holders to keep their old prices. It appears it has now stratified its customers based on the amount they will pay for their orders.
Other EV makers like Tesla are facing backlash from existing buyers after its price cuts made the price of used Tesla EVs tumble. Ford is attempting to be proactive by refunding customers that bought the Mustang Mach-E before it cut prices.
