Rivian (RIVN) and Volkswagen, an upcoming EV startup and one of the world’s largest automakers, are teaming up to accelerate the shift to electric vehicles.
In June, we learned Volkswagen would invest up to $5 billion to form a new joint venture with Rivian.
VW CEO, Oliver Blume, said the partnership is designed to “bring the best solutions to our vehicles faster and at a lower cost.” The legacy automaker will use Rivian’s software expertise to create a new EV archetecture for next-gen software defined vehicles (SDVs).
On Tuesday, Rivian and VW officially entered into an agreement to create their new joint venture, “Rivian and VW Group Technology, LLC.”
The total deal size is up to $5.8 billion and is expected to start on November 13, 2024. Through the new partnership, Rivian and VW plan to bring a next-gen EV architecture and best-in-class software to both companies future EV models.”
Blume said, “Today’s launch of the joint venture demonstrates the potential we want to leverage together in the coming years.”
Rivian and VW finalize joint venture EV partnership
New models will cover all “relevant vehicle segments,” including subcompact cars.” The new JV will be led by Rivian’s chief software engineer, Wassym Bensaid, and VW Group’s Carsten Helbing.
The teams will initially be based on Palo Alto, California, with three additional sites coming in North America and Europe.
By combining Rivian’s software expertise and VW’s massive global scale, the JV plans to cut development costs and accelerate the scale of new tech.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said today’s announcement “marks an important step forward in helping transition the world to electric vehicle.” He added the company is “thrilled to see our technology being integrated in vehicles outside of Rivian.”
The JV plans to use the existing Rivian electrical architecture and software stack, enabling the launch of Rivian’s more affordable R2 in the first half of 2026. It will also be used to support the launch of the first Volkswagen EV from the JV as early as 2027.
Rivian and VW will scale the new tech across a wide range of price points and global markets, “paving the way for new generations of high-volume vehicles that are fully capable of advanced automated driving functions.”
Teams from both companies have already “successfully demonstrated the potential of their collaboration,” developing a drivable demo vehicle in just 12 weeks.
Volkswagen plans to invest up to $5.8 billion in Rivian and the new JV by 2027. A $1 billion investment in the form of a a convertible note has already been issued. At close, VW will invest roughly $1.3 billion for background IP licenses and a 50% stake in the JV. The remaining up to $3.5 billion will come in “the form of equity, convertible notes, and debt at future dates,” and will be based on performance targets.
Rivian’s stock price is up nearly 6% following the news in Tuesday’s after hours trading session. However, share prices are still down nearly 50% in 2024 and over 90% from their all-time high set in November 2021.
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