Electric vehicle maker Rivian: expect prices lower than previously announced

Thanks, @MarcyB. InsideEVs just published about this today.

The reports make it look like the $69,000 price point is staying the same, but is being made a better a value with it getting you the midsize battery and more standard features. I got in touch with Rivian to try to clarify what's changing exactly but was only told there would be more info coming soon (I'm hoping before the end of the week).

In any case, I've seen speculation that they're doing this because they're desperate or something so I thought I'd give my thoughts on it.

Speaking with them at CES, it was made clear they've got tons of orders (the interest there was crazy!) so I don't think they're doing this to attract more buyers. I think that with the Amazon orders and other investments, they now believe they can scale faster and achieve significant cost savings because of that.

They can also see that competition is coming, and so they need to have a price that will still work 2 and 3 years from now when Cybertrucks and electric Chevys and Ford make it to market. They want to avoid selling at a high price now and then have to cut it down the road. That could produce some ill will from early buyers and also make it seem like they are having a hard time competing. Better to go begin at the right price point than have to adjust it down the road as Tesla has done. (That's not to say Tesla was wrong to do this. They're a different company with somewhat different goals and customers. Business approaches is not a one-size-fits-all kind of deal.)

Anyway, I'm sure others have ideas about this and I'd love to hear them.