The lawsuit came after Irvine, Calif.-based Rivian sparked a customer backlash on March 1 by raising the R1S’s price to $84,500 from $70,000, and the R1T’s price to about $79,500 from $67,500.
Rivian backtracked two days later, saying preorders as of March 1 would not face the higher prices, and customers who canceled orders could reinstate them at the original prices. Read full story
The Amazon.com-backed company went public at $78.00 per share, raising about $12 billion in the world’s largest IPO of 2021. Its shares closed Monday at $42.43, after losing 37 percent of their value in the prior five trading days.
Rivian did not immediately respond on Tuesday to a request for comment. A lawyer for Crews did not immediately respond to a similar request.
In a March 3 letter to customers, Scaringe said inflationary pressures and higher component costs led to the price increases.
“It was wrong and we broke your trust in Rivian,” Scaringe wrote.
The case is Crews v Rivian Automotive Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 22-01433.
