Volkswagen AG has expanded its investment in Rivian Automotive Inc. by $800 million, highlighting the company's commitment to the US-based electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer in the face of a softening EV market and potential regulatory shifts from the incoming Trump administration. This increased investment also represents Volkswagen's continuous efforts to exploit Rivian's strong software technology, a critical area where the German automaker has previously faced difficulty.
The event also revealed the leadership of Rivian and Volkswagen's billion-dollar joint venture, Rivian and VW Group Technology LLC. This new company will be led by co-CEOs Wassym Bensaid, Rivian's Chief Software Officer, and Carsten Helbing, VW's Chief Technology Officer. They will lead a combined workforce of about 1,000 engineers from both organisations. This collaboration intends to strengthen Volkswagen's position in the EV industry and improve software skills critical to next-generation vehicle development.
Rivian's stock rose 24% to $13.10 on Wednesday morning, while Volkswagen's shares fell 3.3% in Frankfurt trading. Earlier this year, Volkswagen pledged up to $5 billion to Rivian to co-develop battery-electric vehicles, demonstrating its strategic shift towards collaborative EV innovation. Bensaid, speaking from Rivian's Palo Alto location, highlighted the importance of this collaboration: "This is an acceleration of our objectives for the future."
Volkswagen plans to offer new vehicles utilising technology developed within the joint venture in 2027. This venture is centred on an all-new software-defined vehicle platform with sophisticated functions, which Volkswagen and Rivian intend to license to other automakers in the future. During a recent demonstration for select journalists in Palo Alto, the businesses showed a prototype EV that integrates Rivian's software architecture into an unmarked Volkswagen test vehicle—a project completed in just 12 weeks by joint venture engineers.
With European EV demand slowing and competition heating up in China, Volkswagen is pondering big cost cuts in its German operations.Helbing said that the joint venture's technology is intended to be easily adaptable to Volkswagen's consumer models, and that partnership with Rivian provides exceptional agility and rapid decision-making capabilities.
