- Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe pointed to “the level of state and country regulation that is appalling”
- The lobbying efforts of retailers have made it difficult for Rivian to communicate directly with customers
- Rivian knows that it has a service that is lying in the background, considering it as a temporary problem
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe is not a fan of US franchise laws. These laws work against the EV manufacturer, which has a direct sales model rather than franchised dealers.
On Wednesday, while talking to Green Car Reports and other media sources, Scaringe said “we have this the level of laws of the state and the country is terrible as close as possible in corruption.”
The CEO was talking about franchise laws for car dealers, which have been widely defended by tough lobbying efforts.
“In fact, you have many sellers paid for many laws that makes it difficult for us to communicate directly with the customer,” said Scaringe.
Scaringe was asked whether, after VW's recent $5.8 billion investment in Rivian, the US EV maker could expand the dealer network of one of the world's largest auto manufacturers.
Rivian's manager then commented with a big smile that “Europe doesn't have the same rules,” and “there is certainly opportunities there.” Rivian plans to sell the smaller R2 and R3 crossover SUVs in Europe, but the R1T and R1S are considered to be too big for that market.
“Service is a big thing,” Scaringe continued. “You don't need 5,000 dealerships in the US to sell 3 or 4 million cars a year. Tesla is a good example,” he said.
“You need infrastructure for many services,” Scaringe continued. However, that is changing because historically the customer needed to go into the dealership whenever the car made a clicking noise.
Often, depending on what is needed, that service can come to you. Rivian handles more than half of its service with its mobile service staff going to customers rather than customers coming to them.
Scaringe agreed with the automaker has a backlog of work in the US, as it tries to build service infrastructure as quickly as possible. But in some US markets the product is growing faster than the automaker can build the infrastructure.
“That's a short-term paradox,” Scaringe said. The chief executive said the team believes it will build a strong service infrastructure.
In Europe, Scaringe said there is a question as to whether Rivian is partnering with someone to work. “It's definitely an opportunity,” he added.
But in America, with the franchise rules, it is possible for Rivian to cooperate with anyone else for the service would be difficult.