Rivian to Go the Subscription Route?

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Rivian, the Michigan-based startup that aims to get electric pickups and SUVs into the hands of consumers starting late next year, may choose a controversial avenue to ownership.

The automaker’s CEO, RJ Scaringe, claims the automaker is seriously thinking about offering a subscription service when it begins rolling out vehicles from its Normal, Illinois assembly plant in 2020. Without a dealer network, Rivian’s plan was always to send vehicles directly to buyers, no doubt earning it the ire of dealer groups country-wide.

Speaking to private industry types at Cox Automotive’s HQ, Scaringe said he saw benefits to joining the growing list of automakers offering a range of vehicles for an all-encompassing fee.

“We talk about inflection points, and this is one that allows us to interact in different ways with the customer,” Scaringe said, as reported by Automotive News. “You may use one solution to get to and from the office during the week. But on the weekend, you may want a subscription program.”

Not counting the massive order for custom EV delivery vans earmarked for big-bucks investor Amazon, Rivian’s vehicle range will commence with two products: the R1T pickup and R1S SUV. Both vehicles will emerge with three battery pack options; the topmost affording buyers up to (or more than) 400 miles of range.

Subscription services, popularized by certain premium European brands, bundle monthly ownership costs into a single fee, but also allow subscribers to pick and choose which vehicle they drive at a given point in time. With two vehicles initially on offer, the choice afforded to Rivian fans will be small. Certainly, with no models starting below $69,000, and longer ranges requiring an outlay far greater than that, Rivian can consider itself a premium automaker, which might help the subscription idea go over easier.

Committing his company to a direct-sales model, Scaringe didn’t delve into how his company’s relationship with Cox, Ford, and Amazon might impact how vehicles get to consumers.

“If you look at the type of shareholders we’ve brought in, Amazon, Ford and Cox are all very strategic in supporting us in creating products but also in creating really sticking and powerful customer experiences,” he said.

“Cox is really an impressive company in its ability to deliver on robust customer processes, whether that’s service or thinking about the future of charging. There are a lot of aspects to the relationship that we’re excited about.”

[Image: Rivian]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Indi500fan Indi500fan on Sep 30, 2019

    It would be nice to access an SUV most of the time and a pickup when needed. But when pickups are used for what pickups are used for, they often get beat up...that's one factor to consider if these 100,000 dollar rigs come back in looking like Home Depot daily rentals.

    • DenverMike DenverMike on Sep 30, 2019

      It's no different than for Platinum/Titanium Editions. Just occasional industrial/offroad use and it's the 2nd or 3rd owners that bang them around. Or after X years they're rotated into the grind.

  • Master Baiter Master Baiter on Sep 30, 2019

    All companies want to turn you into a subscriber. I bought a Sharp TV yesterday and I had to set up a Roku account to get the TV to do anything. Never mind that I have no intention of using Roku. I just want it to function as a dumb HDMI monitor.

    • Vulpine Vulpine on Sep 30, 2019

      Simple fix. Go to the Roku website and cancel your account. The Sharp TV won't know the difference and if it does, contact Sharp and demand a refund (and buy yourself a set that doesn't force you to sign up for undesired services.)

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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