Over the years, many automakers have forged partnerships in an effort to reduce costs and speed up the development of new technology, and that includes Ford and Volkswagen, which have already churned out a number of jointly-developed products since teaming up a few years ago. However, other partnerships don’t quite work out as planned, and that was certainly true of the one between Ford and Rivian. As Ford Authority previously reported, those two companies ultimately nixed plans to share architectures and other tech, but since then, Rivian and Volkswagen have been forging plans to partner up in a significant way.
This past June, Rivian and Volkswagen announced that the two automakers would be creating a joint venture together to create next generation EV platforms, which will then be used in future electric vehicles from both brands. In the short term, Volkswagen will utilize Rivian’s existing electrical architecture and software platform in its own future EVs, and will also make a $5 billion dollar investment in that company as well. The motivating force behind this move is to accelerate the development of software, leaning on the strengths of both companies and lowering the effective costs associated with these developmental tasks.
Now, that joint venture – officially called “Rivian and VW Group Technology, LLC,” otherwise known as Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies – is official, with a total deal size of up to $5.8 billion. The joint venture will be headed by Wassym Bensaid (Rivian) and Carsten Helbing (Volkswagen Group), while developers and software engineers from both companies will also join that team, based in Palo Alto, California initially, followed by three other sites are in development in North America and Europe. In the short term, the joint venture will use Rivian’s existing electrical architecture and software technology stack, enabling the launch of the R2 in the first half of 2026, followed by models from Volkswagen Group as early as 2027.
“Today’s finalization of our joint venture with Volkswagen Group marks an important step forward in helping transition the world to electric vehicles,” said RJ Scaringe, Founder and CEO of Rivian. “We’re thrilled to see our technology being integrated in vehicles outside of Rivian, and we’re excited for the future. Rivian will continue to stay focused on creating best in class products and services that benefit our customers, helping to drive EV adoption.”
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