Considering the vaporware nature of the Rivian at this point, it makes you wonder if it's existence is merely to pressure Tesla and steal mind/market share from them without ever producing anything.
I don't think Amazon would invest almost $1b into a company just to pressure Tesla. I know there are a lot of EV vaporware companies out there but I don't think Rivian is one of them.
I don't either, I was just throwing that out as a mental exercise. Who would benefit from devaluing Tesla and why?
But I have enough hope in the Rivian that it will affect my opinion of the Model Y. Until the Rivian actually fails, and if the promised release dates are comparable to the Model Y, then the Model Y has to compete with it for mindshare. Can Model Y match the promised range of the Rivian? Will the prices be comparable? Passenger count, off-road capabilities, comfort, ...
As long as Rivian can dangle a timeframe close to the Model Y, plenty of people will hold off on the Y purchase if the Rivian promises more. As the release date gets closer, Rivian might slip, but right now they compete.
I'm just noting that I wouldn't have expected Tesla to have such a competitor yet. For now, it's a competition of promises. But whether it's Rivian, or Ford, or whoever, the competition of reality is almost close enough to taste.
Almost...