Photo: Rivian
Start-up Rivian is foregoing car dealerships when it brings to market their 2 high-end electric trucks in 2021. The trucks will be sold directly to customers, while also being available by subscription.
This isn’t official yet, but Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe hinted as much during a talk with Automotive News at the headquarters of Cox Automotive. The subscription service model is appealing because it offers variety and flexibility to customers, without the burden of buying or leasing, he said.
He had explained previously that Rivian trucks would be sold directly to customers. Availability through subscription is also an option they’re considering now, it would seem. “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,” Scaringe is quoted as saying.
Rivian is one of the hottest carmakers on the scene right now, despite the fact that it’s yet to put out or sell a single vehicle. Production on the R1T pickup truck and the R1S SUV is scheduled for 2020, for the 2021 model year, with prices starting from $70,000. They’ve also received a massive order of 100,000 electric delivery vans from Amazon just last month.
If Rivian ends up using a subscription service, it wouldn’t be the first – or the last – carmaker to do so, running in parallel with more traditional means of availability. Both Volvo and Porsche run their own subscription services. At the opposite pole, another start-up, Canoo, plans to make its electric car, a “loft on wheels” as they call it, canoo, available only through subscription.
The idea is to “free” the driver of the burdens of car ownership, while also offering him or her all the perks that go with it – and even beyond that, with the possibility to switch between cars at will.
He had explained previously that Rivian trucks would be sold directly to customers. Availability through subscription is also an option they’re considering now, it would seem. “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,” Scaringe is quoted as saying.
Rivian is one of the hottest carmakers on the scene right now, despite the fact that it’s yet to put out or sell a single vehicle. Production on the R1T pickup truck and the R1S SUV is scheduled for 2020, for the 2021 model year, with prices starting from $70,000. They’ve also received a massive order of 100,000 electric delivery vans from Amazon just last month.
If Rivian ends up using a subscription service, it wouldn’t be the first – or the last – carmaker to do so, running in parallel with more traditional means of availability. Both Volvo and Porsche run their own subscription services. At the opposite pole, another start-up, Canoo, plans to make its electric car, a “loft on wheels” as they call it, canoo, available only through subscription.
The idea is to “free” the driver of the burdens of car ownership, while also offering him or her all the perks that go with it – and even beyond that, with the possibility to switch between cars at will.
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