It seems rivian wants to take a few notes from Lucid’s playbook. Lucid has in my opinion taken advantage of the performance it is able to squeeze out from its vehicles, creating new variants every so often with ridiculous power and toque numbers with eye-watering price tags. The Lucid Air Pure starts at $78,900 and the Touring costs $96,500, with both providing a projected 406 miles of range, while the $140,500 Grand Touring earned a 516-mile range estimate from the EPA. The Lucid Air Dream Edition produces big numbers. The Performance model’s two electric motors churn out 1111 horsepower, while the Range model can travel 520 miles on a charge—the longest range of any EV rated by the EPA. But these impressive metrics also come with a sky-high price of $170,500. The Lucid Air Saphire edition will be marketed as a special edition and will cost $325,000. Reservations are open and Production will begin in the first half of 2023.
Rivian may have seen that it has offered its best-performing vehicle at a giveaway price and has now withdrawn it from its configurator to relaunch it at another time.
Forum members are reporting receiving a letter from Rivian detailing its plans to remove the quad motor, Max Pack battery variant as a selectable option in its R1T configurator. As of today, the pairing is already non-selectable for new orders. It seems Rivian is not planning to produce this particular variant even for preservation holders as the automaker is asking current Rivian R1T reservation holders to pivot to either a smaller battery or fewer motors.
As Rivian entered the final financial quarter of this year, it was touting a 67% expansion in the production of its two flagship models, on pace to hit its output goal of 25,000 units. This was followed by news of increased range to Rivian’s R1T pickup configuration that consisted of the Large Pack battery and Quad-Motor configuration.
At the time, Rivian said it was still working through the EPA estimated ranges of the Dual Motor drive train options on its EVs, while its Quad-Motor option of the R1T was still promising 400+ miles of range when paired with Rivian’s Max Pack battery.
However, if you check the Rivian website today, you’ll notice that you are no longer able to configure an R1T that includes both the Quad Motor and the Max Pack. Furthermore, current Rivian reservation holders with that configuration are being asked to choose between range and power.
The letter from Rivian posted to Rivian Forums by pathfinder2, a current reservation holder for the quad motor max pack model, and all other current reservation holders of the same are being asked to reconfigure their R1T orders to either a Dual Motor EV with the Max Pack and 400 miles of range or a Quad Motor pickup with the Large Pack now producing 328 miles EPA range after a recent software update.
On a slightly bright side, those reservation holders who opt for the latter option could expedite their delivery window to early 2023. Furthermore, Rivian says that Quad Motor + Max Pack R1T reservation holders will save $4,500 if they switch to the Dual Motor Max Pack option. That version of the R1T should still deliver about 400 miles of range and 600 horsepower.
Here comes the strategy from Lucid’s playbook.
Rivian shared that it will also offer an “enhanced version” of the Dual Motor Max Pack R1T that features the same range and towing, but more horsepower (700 hp) and a whole second off its 0-60 mph (3.5 sec). The enhanced performance may be a result of new more powerful motors but the more likely scenario is Rivian uplifting the current software limits of its current models to achieve that power, much like a pay-to-play software unlock. However, this variant will save current reservation holders who committed prior to 3/1/2022, $2,000 compared to their original Quad Motor order.
Rivian was sure to note that while the Quad Motor Max Pack combo is gone for now, it may not be forever. Rivian said that a Quad-Motor R1T with additional capability will arrive at a later date and will be reunited with the Max battery pack. Pricing for that variant will be announced closer to its launch.
For now, current Rivian R1T reservation holders don’t need to do anything. Well, other than to decide which reconfiguration of their electric pickup they want to switch to, or scrap their order altogether. Unfortunately, the Max Pack has never been offered on the R1S SUV. So reservation for the SUV will not have that problem.
Rivian says it will begin reaching out to R1T customers in early 2023 to share the next steps and help them choose their (second) most preferred configuration in order to receive new pricing and updated delivery estimates.
Do you currently have a reservation for this variant, if so what are you going to do, switch to another, or scrap your order altogether? If you are switching, which variant will you switch to?
