ccap41

That's Volkswagen, not Audi. They were selling a cheap branded VW at luxury car (Audi) prices. This is Cadillac, not Chevy. Do they not sell a 150k Escalade Blackwing? Why only compare to their sedan's prices? Yes, 2 times higher price than their currently highest priced vehicle is a lot but I don't think it's insane to think this could do "okay" for their targeted sales goal. 50k over sticker means less than jack squat for Mercedes and Land Rover because they see exactly $0.00 of that markup. The DEALERSHIPS love selling them because they get all of that markup. Also, FWIW, the Benz dealership we were at recently said they won't take anything under 150k over sticker for their new G Wagens. Absolutely fckn insane. And they do it because they know they still sell as soon as they hit the showroom. The guy said he's actually sold two to a lady from LA because they were still cheaper here than in LA.

I mean, you're not wrong here. They're starting within 10-15% of Rolls prices and at 300k it's starting over 100k MORE than Bentley Continentals and Flying Spurs....and Maybach Mercedes. This is a tough sell with those competitors.

The difference there is that was a Volkswagen, not an Audi. This isn't Chevy putting out a 200k sedan, it's Cadillac. Almost none of that is necessary. There are only two luxury brands who make off roaders; Mercedes and Land Rover/Range Rover. GM just doesn't need an off roader in its Cadillac portfolio when they have ZR2 Silverados/AT4X Sierras and an electric Hummer. I do think its a shame they don't have something (ANYTHING) that's a true 2-door sports car.

So what? You can still grasp the concept of an ultra-low volume, high end luxury halo vehicle.

50 miles seems so close for vehicles who will get 200-300 miles of highway range but I guess it's always better safe than sorry.

I think it's to build a high end branding image. Probably not a whole lot different than the G Wagen a decade ago. I know it was more than 300 cars per year, but wasn't it right around like 1000-1500 units? All of those can be had for waaaaay less than that. I don't even see the Mazda6 on their website anymore.. Kia GT EV6 starts at $51,700. Lucid Air starts at $87,400.

"I will start this by saying I have zero buyer's remorse. Within about a day of driving the Rivian R1T—even in unfinished pre-production form, as was the case on our cross-country, Trans-America Trail journey—I knew I simply had to have one. Moreover, the R1T impressed every single editor on the TAT goat rodeo and we even named it our 2022 MotorTrend Truck of the Year, the highest honor in the biz. And so, on Flag Day, June 14, I took delivery of my "Spinach Omelet" electric pickup truck. Why Spinach Omelet? I went for the unusual but gorgeous color combo of Compass Yellow over Forest Edge. Yes, my 835-hp pickup truck has a vegan "leather" interior the color of day-old guacamole. The R1T is superlative. I love it. The process began when I put down a $1,000 deposit, and luckily I did so before Rivian jacked the price of the truck by 20 percent. Soon after, a very friendly Rivian Guide—a specific customer service agent who helps each buyer through the process—contacted me to see if I had any questions. As I'd already driven the truck 1,850 miles across six states, I had just one: When will I get mine? The conversation went something like this: Me: Can you tell me when I'll get the truck? Rivian Guide: I'm sorry, I can't answer that. Me: Well, can you tell me if I'll get it near or if I'll get it far? RG: I'm sorry, but I can't answer that. Me: Will I get it in 2022 or 2023? RG: I'm sorry, I can't say. If you can picture my eyes rolling up into my brainpan, that's good because that's exactly what happened. If you don't know, I'm a cast member of the popular automotive podcast "Spike's Car Radio." I used this big megaphone to tell the above anecdote on an episode. A month or so goes by and I get an unexpected phone call from my Rivian Guide. I'm paraphrasing here, but they said, "Hey, what if instead of the truck you ordered, we got you an identically spec'd Launch Edition R1T? It would only cost you $400 more, and you'd get it in July instead of unknown?" I quizzed them pretty hard. For real, it's identically spec'd? With yellow paint, a green interior, underbody armor, the off-road recovery kit, ski racks, all that? Yes, I was assured. My exact spec. For only $400? How could I not? I agreed and was then told to just go and fill out the eight-step buying process on the website. When I heard "eight steps," I got nervous. Sounded like too many. More than an hour later, I was thinking about smashing my laptop against the wall. I'd managed to complete perhaps 5 of the 8 steps and my blood was boiling. The one that killed me—aside from essentially being forced to sign up for Rivian's Nationwide-backed insurance to get to the next step—was the value offered for my trade-in. I had a 2014 Ford Fiesta ST in good, slightly modified condition with 43,000 miles on the clock. Rivian's website offered me $10,400. I not only balked, I called my Rivian Guide and said something like, "ARE YOU KIDDING?" No, I was told, that's what the computer offers and there's nothing they can do about it. Fine, I'd just sell the damn thing privately. In May, I received a call from a different, equally friendly Rivian employee at the company's delivery center in El Segundo, California, just 0.5 mile from MotorTrend HQ. "Your truck's here. We're so happy you went with such a bold colorway." Whoa, whoa, whoa. It's here? (Also, I still needed to sell the Ford, which I was able to do rather quickly for nearly 50 percent more than Rivian offered.) Because I was leaving for Pikes Peak practice, we settled on the day after I returned, June 14, for handover. Sunday evening, June 12, I'm told by my friendly Guide to make sure I bring a certified or cashier's check with me on Tuesday. "What?!?" I rudely exclaim. "You're telling me this now? I'm in Colorado, and flying back tomorrow, landing after my bank is closed and I have to work the morning of the 14th? How can I get a cashier's check?" Then I'm told there's another option. I can just simply link my bank account to my Rivian account and pay that way. All I have to do is go to the website and link the two. Thirty minutes and dozens (fine, hundreds) of swear words later, I determine that, nope, there's no freaking way to link my bank account to my Rivian account via the blasted website. I call my Rivian Guide back to explain this and ask for assistance. I mentioned that when I picked up my Alfa Romeo Giulia that I also custom ordered, I was in and out of the dealership in 26 minutes, and that it would have taken less time but they forced me to drive the car around the block. I'd just wasted more time than that on the farshtinkener Rivian website, and I'm furious. My Guide had no answer, so I needed to delay delivery until I had a chance to get a certified check. The next day I'm told, you know what, Rivian will accept a personal check from me after all. I'm not optimistic an anonymous buyer would get the same pass, but at least we're back on. I'm leaving out details of the seemingly never-ending series of documents to sign (it was like buying real estate), but mercifully they're all electronic-signature-type things. The next day I get to the MotorTrend office at 10:15 a.m. and the thing I'm supposed to be doing gets canceled. I call my Rivian Guide and arrange to grab the truck then, not at 2:30 p.m. as scheduled. Thirty minutes later, I arrive at the delivery center but am informed my early arrival will mean things will take a while. Now, I know they're not putting gas in the thing, so I have no idea what the holdup is, but my gorgeous new truck was parked right out front by about noon. I guess the delay wasn't because they were checking the paint, because a brief once-over revealed the paint-protection film on one of the gear-tunnel doors was defective, and my truck went away. It's fixed and 90 minutes later, I'm driving home. Hurray! Although, it must be said three hours to turn over my truck that I'd learned had been sitting there for days if not weeks is crazy. But hey, the Rivian R1T is fantastic and worth the wait. An electrician came over just before I sat down to write this, to install the Rivian charger that the company had shipped to my house. After about 90 minutes it was ready and we tried to pair the unit to the Rivian app. No luck. We pored over the instruction manual, and tried to pair it three more times. Still no luck. A solid red light then illuminated, which is a signal you need to contact Rivian. After 20 minutes of being on hold, my electrician left for other jobs. Eventually, I spoke with someone who told me I needed my electrician to proceed. Long story short—and many more privately spoken foul words later—my electrician agreed to come back. Rivian wanted him to confirm the charger was getting power from the breaker (it was, to the tune of 240 volts) and confirm that everything was hooked up and set correctly. It was, as verified by sending photos to Rivian for analysis. Bum charger, it turned out, and Rivian is shipping a new one. Meaning that as of this writing, I cannot charge my brand-new electric truck at my house. This is awful because I have to deal with the often unreliable Electrify America charging network. I know this will all get resolved and I'll soon be blissfully motoring along in my Spinach Omelet R1T, but man, I didn't know I had so much swearing in me. You learn something new every day. Postscript: I wrote this screed after burning an entire day's worth of time dealing with a defective Rivian charger and a new company's processes. My R1T's VIN ends in 05020. I don't know the actual production numbers, but seeing as my truck was built in May, I'd guess the 7,000th R1T hasn't rolled off the line yet. Lamborghini builds more cars in a year than that. True to its word, Rivian shipped out a new charger, got a third party to come remove the busted one and install the good one, and all that only took a few days. Since then, the Lieberman household has been experiencing trouble- and gasoline-free charging and driving, and my Alfa Romeo wound up in the shop. So, why write this? Rivian needs to get its buying experience in order. True believers like me who know how good the truck is will put up with this sort of nonsense. But with electric Ford trucks coming on strong, the buying experience needs to be as simple as possible. Tesla, despite numerous other faults, has mastered this process. The cars just show up at your house. Easy as that. Rivian can get there. When it comes to cars, like so many things, it's the little things that count." https://www.motortrend.com/features/i-bought-a-rivian-r1t-electric-pickup-order-delivery/

I need to see more because that rear 1/4 looks pretty awful but it may work when it's all together. Is it supposed to be an *actual* coupe or like a Panamera "coupe"? I guess after looking at the 3rd picture down, it looks more like a four-door "coupe". I couldn't imagine having that kind of access to the rear seats and it only having two doors. I hope to love this like the Audi 7 and Merc CLS. I hope it isn't like the BMW 5 Series Gran Coupe or Panamera. Those two look bulbous and bulky compared to the Audi and Merc.

BIG MAC! I was comparing in-house BK burgers.. *facepalm* I'd still say the Impossible Whopper is all-around a healthier choice, even though it's 80 calories more. The cholesterol difference is what really stand out to me. https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/product/big-mac.html

Good information to know but this did take almost two years longer then the legacies that were struggling immediately once COVID hit. It sounds like a mess, to be honest. I'm glad I don't have to deal with any of that crap. For as good as it seems to be reviewed, there's certainly holes in the programming/software/hardware that NEED to be addressed. You say Tesla's stock is getting hammered but it's currently juuuust above where it was trading a year ago, so it's only getting hammered in the short term. Rivian on the other hand, has gotten smoked since its IPO. FYI, not an investor in either company but I'd like to get in on Rivian at some point. I believe they'll be around for the long haul. Not red meat vs red meat is worth the 90 calories, IMO. I looooove me some hamburgers and steaks but red meat is not very good for us. Also, after looking further into the burger situation, I'm not seeing a 540 calorie Whopper. https://company.bk.com/pdfs/nutrition.pdf

Oh yes, it certainly isn't "the way" to do it, otherwise all of these legacy automakers would have done it decades ago. I'm just saying that, I believe, it did help them through a massive supply chain issue that's still plaguing the automotive industry and it likely isn't easing up in the very near future.

Of course that's not all vehicle assembly but I would think it's a pretty big positive that they're producing a lot of their own part in-house instead of outsourcing them. I could very well be mistaken, but, I believe they didn't have the COVID hiccups near as bad as the rest of the industry because they were making most everything in-house.

They manufacture parts for their vehicles, along with parts for their solar lines.

Rivian only needs about 1,000,000 units/yr to catch up. I think their products are great and can do it. I just don't think this will be a very quick process.

You think in 19 years or less they will be producing more vehicles than Tesla? Tesla has almost 20 factories globally and all of them have to do with automotive production, someway or another. Rivian has stated a 2030 goal of 1,000,000 units/yr and that's about what Tesla did last year. If they don't fall on their face, like they already have, and get to that point with Tesla growing 0% in that time, then they can and will do it. I don't see 0% growth from Tesla, but I do see a much more minimized growth as the other OEMs ramp up EV production and new models.

I don't think "full production" can touch where Tesla is at right now. They're decades away from legitimately catching Tesla. I hope Rivian the best and I really like what they've made thus far but, they're a loooong ways away from Tesla's production.

Funny you left Mercedes out as they were down 20.5% in Q1. I can't imagine it'll be a whole lot better in Q2.

Right now they are bringing the fight. The other OEMs haven't caught and beaten but they are bringing it right now with everything that's rolling out this year and within the next five years. It seems like every OEM has at least one EV rolling out this year (or last year) with a handful more on the way.

What kind of fuel economy do you get in that thing? I thought you didn't drive a whole lot? Maybe I'm mixing you and @Robert Hallup here.

The keypad thing is such an underrated feature! I don't quite use it as often as it sounds like you do, but it's certainly come in handy MANY times. I don't know why other companies haven't been doing this. I think I read a Ford review a couple years ago that touched on it and they mentioned, "why don't other companies have this?" and I believe they looked into it and it isn't like Ford has a patent on it or anything. When I was younger my grandma had a Toyota car (probably a Camry) and it had a keypad on the side. I thought that was sooo cool! It was in the 90's and definitely before ford was doing it, I believe. Yep. I thought it was a nice touch on the whole market and what's coming out and what isn't. *cough* Tesla *cough*. I found it a little ironic that we were talking about that and then MT had the new article on what we were recently talking about.

Speaking of the Hummer EV. The one that sold in my town has been back at the dealership 5-6 times already. My wife cuts a few of the salesmen/sales manager's hairs so they complain about it to her - LOL. They apparently don't have specialists to work on electric vehicles (yet?) and it just keeps having issues. I've asked my wife if they said what the issues were and she didn't know. I was really curious about that, what's actually causing the owner the headache. I'm curious about this as well as everything is starting to age and I haven't heard anything about new models or major refreshes yet. The Cybertruck is already two years behind schedule and who knows if it'll make it out by 2024 at this point.

The frunk isn't a huge deal to most enthusiasts (I think) because we also tend to lean to more sporty vehicles where we're used to smaller storage capacities. Most enthusiasts don't tend to get lame vehicles like what I have, or just massive SUVs like David as. We grew up with something sporty at some point and anything larger than that "has plenty of space" in the back. Just my thoughts on it... Personally, I value a frunk because I actually think I would use it more than the hatch space on regular day to day things. But, again, it wouldn't be a deal breaker. If I thought two vehicles were completely equal on every other aspect but one had a frunk and one didn't, I'd definitely get the one with a frunk. Buuuuut, that's unrealistic and will never happen because there's too many variables to say two vehicles would actually be equal everywhere else. Also Happy Canada Day! EXACTLY like Apple. I also believe their simplicity and ease of use on all of their systems/apps is exactly like Apple as well and that's a great thing for them. I've 100% heard Tesla referred to as the Apple of the automotive world and it's not necessarily a bad thing. They're just going to lose market share as all of these other OEMs come to market with new products. Apple is different in that aspect. A good little read about Tesla's future market share as well as Ford, GM, etc. https://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-general-motors-ford-shares-analysis-car-wars/

I just saw some first gen CLS in there as well. Actually, quite a bit from the rear 3/4 view.

I've really enjoyed most new Kias and Hyundais the past few years but this looks pretty awful to me. Maybe it will grow on me though, like the current gen Silverado has.

Exactly, I'm 5'8" and I don't hit my head in my MKC, Focus, C350, or my Mustangs, because I'm not a wild fckn animal getting in and out of vehicles.