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Rivian reverses course on its preorder price hike after buyers complained

The company is restoring original preorder prices for electric SUV and pickup reservations.

A Rivian truck in New York City

Rivian faced backlash for a price hike announced on March 1.

Photo: Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Rivian on Tuesday announced a price hike for its R1T electric pickup truck and R1S electric SUV that would have applied to buyers who had placed early reservations. After a wave of backlash, the company is rolling back that plan.

The company's planned price increase caused some reservation holders' configurations to go up by over $12,000. Rivian blamed inflation and the cost of materials for the move.

"This decision will allow us to continue to offer competitive products that maintain the high standard of quality, performance and capabilities that our customers expect and deserve from Rivian," Jiten Behl, Rivian’s chief growth officer, told Electrek on Tuesday.

Buyers were not pleased. Almost immediately after announcing the price hike, Rivian reservation holders took to forums and social media platforms in droves to announce plans to cancel their orders. On a Rivian subreddit, more than 1,500 members indicated in a poll that they would prefer to cancel their reservation, and just over 1,000 respondents said they were unsure about what to do with their reservation.

Rivian is now rolling back the price increase — at least for early reservation holders. Rivian CEO and founder RJ Scaringe wrote in a letter to buyers that the company will restore the original configuration, pricing and delivery timing for people who placed orders before March 1. Buyers who canceled their preorders on or after March 1 will be able to reinstate their reservations at their original price.

"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," Scaringe wrote in the letter, which was obtained by Electrek. "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."

Sarah Roach

Sarah (Sarahroach_) writes for Source Code at Protocol. She's based in Boston and can be reached at sroach@protocol.com

electric vehiclesrivian
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