Fully agree that Stark should be communicating the delays better (similar to how they did the first delays). As for the Tesla comparison, I'm not saying anything is "okay". I'm simply comparing how Tesla takes deposits/preorders and doesn't even try to predict an exact delivery date. They give a vague year and often move that. Both pre-order types (giving no specific date or giving an exact date) both suck for the consumer because they either give you know idea or get you fixated on a specific date and that inevitably moves.
When a company is designing a product and bringing it to market, when still in design phase they are going to have a tough time predicting an accurate timeline. It would be much easier on the consumer if they did what legacy auto manufactures do which is spend the 3 to 6 years designing, developing, and ramping up for production and only announce to the public when it's in the final stages of pre-production (hence the existence of "spy shots" of disguised new model vehicles being tested and driven in public). But waiting until that stage makes it hard to gauge interest and predict assembly plant capacity needs until preorders are taken, particularly on a new type of product such as this.
The actual time from preorder to delivery, independent from how they choose to communicate a predicted delivery date, is also an interesting subject. Waiting is nothing new. It's just more real when it happens to you. Ha. There is all manner of global products to use as examples, but even with vehicles, it is relatively common. We just canceled an order for a Toyota 4runner because we'd been waiting 12 months. Unlike most other brands, Toyota doesn't let buyers or dealerships order a specific vehicle. We wanted a specific trim, color, options and NOT one option (did not want moonroof because it takes away headroom and 4Runenrs are already short on headroom). Dealerships don't control what they get. They get in what they get in and have as list and then go to the buyers on that list and say "is this one close enough?". If not, they offer it to the next person on the list. After 12 months of waiting, we found a 3 year old used one that fit out needs. Because of demand, no other out-of-state dealerships in the US would put us on a wait list so we went on lists in our state. Who knows how long we would have waited if we'd stayed on the list.
From the day we put down a deposit, we had no idea if we'd get it in 1 week, 1 month or 1 year or never. We didn't receive an expected delivery date when we put down a deposit (a deposit a lot larger than the $100 Varg deposit). Did not receive any updates throughout the entire year except a couple offers to take one that was the wrong color or wrong options. Or just an update from the dealerships that said "still waiting and hoping". And that is for an established make and a model (Gen5 4runner) that hasn't been redesigned since 2010.
But, the same thing is happening for many other vehicles. I know people that ordered a 2023 Ford Superduty and their order was never fullfilled in 2023 so they will get a 2024 build when those start to be built later this year. And long waits, with unknown delivery dates, isn't only something new these last few years. There are examples going back years and decades for high demand vehicles like ordering a Corvette or limited edition models or trims or simply the first year redesign of a model or for a hard to get configuration (manual transmission in some models or a non-common configuration like a standard cab pickup). Many situation over the years where you'd walk into a dealership and order and you'd not know if you'll get one much less when it will be coming in until you get a build date.
Sticking to electric vehicles and yes, back to Tesla, the waiting game goes back to their very first vehicle, the Roadster, but continued with the model S, X, and all other models since. A new model would be announced when it was in design phase rather than when it's ready for production, preorders opened up....then you wait. Years. Same for Rivian and same for Lucid. A relative has had a Rivian on order for 3 years. No idea when it will arrive. When they get the letter, then they'll know.
All that to say long waits and delays are nothing new and we've all heard about them all along in the media or from friends that have been impacted. It's just a bigger deal when it's happening directly to yourself. Ha.
For my $100, it's good been good entertainment. I didn't plan my powersports life around when it would arrive because we knew delivery dates would be fluid and so just treated it as "some day". I keep riding what I have in the garage and enjoying those. When/if a Varg arrives, I'll add it to the garage and it will be another option to choose when it's ride day.
I still smell a SpeedUTV like saga…
