Rivian R1S Buyers Facing Fresh Delays

Rivian has achieved a lot in its short time since inception, most notably becoming the first automaker to deliver an all-electric truck to market with the R1T. But there are many issues that have cropped up since then, and most of them have to do with supply constraints and production delays. Nevertheless, the brand remains adamant that it will build 25,000 vehicles this year, among them the R1S SUV. Unfortunately, it seems that production delays are not yet a thing of the past, as a recent email to some order holders has said that a new estimated delivery window predicts that some buyers will only get their cars sometime between October-December.

The email has been sent to a number of people who have placed orders for the Launch Edition, but the windows vary. While most owners seem to be getting a new window for the final quarter of the year, some are reporting that their delivery windows have moved to sometime between August-September. There does not seem to be an obvious rule for which builds are being affected and which aren't, but we're seeing plenty of Launch Edition models being delayed. Unfortunately, there's no word from the automaker on the reason for the delays, so hopefully, this is just a minor adjustment of the timeline, albeit one that will doubtless frustrate some impatient buyers.

That said, Rivian's email did make mention of supply chain issues. It also discussed service infrastructure, announcing that customers who live in areas with no service infrastructure would get their orders pushed back. Rivian went on to mention that certain build combinations are prioritized in order to accelerate deliveries, but as we said, Rivian has not disclosed which options or colors would be getting priority.

For Rivian's sake, we hope that it can at least stick to the new delivery timeline, as we can't imagine too many buyers being pleased with more delays, especially when some who placed their orders as far back as December 2018 are still waiting.