Rivian Automotive Inc. and Volkswagen Group have started their bigger joint venture and say they will work together to make “cutting edge” electric vehicle technology.
Rivian RIVN 18.86% and the German car company VOW -2.99% said the deal is worth $5.8 billion, which is more than they said in June when they first announced it. As of Wednesday, the JV is up and running.
Both companies’ strengths will be used to make cutting-edge software and electronics designs and to make the platforms and architectures for electric vehicles bigger, the companies said. “Our goal is to give customers the best technological answer as soon as possible.”
Rivian stock went up 9.5% in the late session on Tuesday, after going down 4.2% at the end of the normal trading day. Rivian’s numbers for the third quarter were mixed last week.
The JV will be run by Wassym Bensaid, who is the chief software officer at Rivian, and Carsten Helbing, who is the chief technical engineer at Volkswagen Group.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said in a statement, “We’re thrilled to see our technology being used in vehicles outside of Rivian. This is an important step toward accelerating EV adoption.”
“The partnership with Rivian is the next logical step in making us more competitive and technologically advanced around the world,” Oliver Blume, CEO of VW, said.
The companies first talked about the joint venture, which was thought to be worth up to $4 billion, and Volkswagen’s $1 billion investment in June.
Volkswagen Group wants to put as much as $5.8 billion into Rivian and the joint company by the year 2027. The first $1 billion investment has already been made in the form of convertible notes.
It is the goal of the JV to use Rivian’s current electric vehicle architecture and software technology stack to launch Rivian’s next-generation EV in the first half of 2026. This will help Volkswagen start its first models as early as 2027, the companies said.
They said that in just 12 weeks, the joint team built a test EV that could be driven, showing how well the two companies could work together.
