EV maker Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ:RIVN) has scrapped its return policy that allowed customers to return their new vehicle in 7 days if it does not meet their needs.
What Happened: Rivian previously allowed new customers to return their new vehicles within 7 days or 1000 miles if it doesn't meet their needs. The webpage referring to the policy has now been taken down.
A Rivian spokesperson told Benzinga in a statement that the company launched the 7-day return policy to reassure customers who were unfamiliar with the brand and its products. However, since then, the company has scaled its network of Service Centers and demo drive fleet across the United States and Canada so that customers can test drive before purchase, they said.
The company now says on its website that Rivian vehicles do not have a return policy. The company instead urges customers to schedule demo drives and test the vehicle before making the purchase.
"We encourage our customers to get behind the wheel by scheduling a demo drive. You'll also have the opportunity to do a vehicle walk-around with a delivery specialist prior to accepting delivery, and are covered by Rivian's industry-leading warranties," the company support page now reads.
Why It Matters: Rivian currently has two vehicles in production, the R1T truck and the R1S SUV, both priced at around $70,000. The company has been accumulating losses for every vehicle it delivered until the first quarter of 2024 when it made a loss of nearly $39,000 for each of the 13,588 vehicles it sold.
Rivian is looking to turn its first-ever quarterly gross profit in the fourth quarter of 2024 and has been making moves aimed at cutting costs. The possible cancellation of the return policy might also be aimed at that end.
Last month, Rivian announced its intent to form a joint venture with Volkswagen aimed at creating software-defined vehicle platforms to be used in both players' future electric vehicles starting in the second half of the decade.
As part of the terms of the deal, Volkswagen will initially invest $1 billion in Rivian and then up to $4 billion until 2026. Both companies shall hold a 50% stake in the JV which is expected to be formed by the fourth quarter of 2024.
電動汽車製造商Rivian Automotive(納斯達克股票代碼:RIVN)取消了退貨政策,該政策允許客戶在不滿足需求的情況下在7天內退回新車。
發生了什麼:Rivian此前允許新客戶在7天內或1000英里內退回新車,如果新車不能滿足他們的需求。提及該政策的網頁現已被刪除。
Rivian 發言人在一份聲明中告訴 Benzinga,該公司推出了 7 天退貨政策,以向不熟悉該品牌及其產品的客戶保證。但是,他們說,從那時起,該公司已將其服務中心和演示車隊網絡擴展到美國和加拿大,以便客戶可以在購買前試駕。
該公司現在在其網站上表示,Rivian車輛沒有退貨政策。相反,該公司敦促客戶在購買之前安排演示駕駛並測試車輛。
“我們鼓勵客戶通過安排演示活動來駕駛。在接受交付之前,您還有機會與送貨專家一起巡迴車輛,並享有 Rivian 行業領先的保修服務,” 該公司的支持頁面現在寫道。
爲何重要:Rivian目前正在生產兩輛汽車,R1萬卡車和R1S SUV,均售價約爲7萬美元。該公司一直在累計交付的每輛汽車的虧損,直到2024年第一季度,其售出的13,588輛汽車每輛虧損近39,000美元。
Rivian希望在2024年第四季度實現其有史以來的第一個季度毛利,並一直在採取旨在削減成本的舉措。取消退貨政策的可能性也可能是爲了達到這個目的。
上個月,Rivian宣佈打算與大衆汽車成立合資企業,旨在從本世紀下半年開始創建軟件定義的汽車平台,用於雙方未來的電動汽車。
作爲交易條款的一部分,大衆汽車最初將向Rivian投資10億美元,然後在2026年之前投資高達40億美元。兩家公司都將持有該合資企業50%的股份,該合資公司預計將於2024年第四季度成立。