Bad news for Tesla? Volkswagen and Rivian have announced a joint venture agreement to share technology
An auto industry icon and a potentially market-shaking startup: This week, Volkswagen and Rivian have announced their intention to create a joint venture. The agreement will see the firms share technology with a view to creating a new generation of software-defined vehicle platforms.
Under the deal, Volkswagen will commit to investing a total of $7.5 billion ($5b USD) with Rivian to gain access to the US firm’s advanced EV platform tech.
Rivian’s integrated vehicle technology, as seen on its R1S electric SUV and EDV (Electric Delivery Van), is at the forefront of the industry at the moment, and VW will quickly look to leverage it on existing group products.
Then, in the second half of this decade, we can expect to see new Volkswagen and Rivian cars or vans based on an all-new Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) platform created under the joint venture. As well as accelerating software and platform development, the brands also hope that pooling their resources can lower vehicle production costs at a time when the flow of lower-priced electric cars from China into western markets is increasing.
Speaking about the deal, VW Group CEO, Oliver Blume, said: “Our customers benefit from the targeted partnership with Rivian to create a leading technology architecture. Through our cooperation, we will bring the best solutions to our vehicles faster and at lower cost.”
Rivian’s founder and CEO, RJ Scaringe said: “Since the earliest days of Rivian, we have been focused on developing highly differentiated technology, and it’s exciting that one of the world’s largest and most respected automotive companies has recognised this.”
Scaringe went on to underline the importance of the joint venture for Rivian, which will gain crucial investment to power the next phase in its growth plan, together with wider access to global markets for its EV technologies through the VW Group.
Rivian was founded in 2009 but revealed its first production car as recently as 2017.
The R1S SUV and closely related R1T pick-up truck are on sale direct to US customers and these have been joined more recently by the Rivian EDV panel van, of which Amazon now has over 10,000 on its delivery fleet.
Earlier this year, Rivian also unveiled its smaller new R2 and R3 models, designed to be more affordable and faster to build than the R1 models already on sale.
The joint venture between Rivian and VW is pending regulatory approval but is expected to be completed in the later stages of 2024.
Steve Walker & Automotive Daily