- Rivian on Wednesday stated it obtained the following $1 billion from its three way partnership with the Volkswagen Group.
- The VW Group will get entry to Rivian’s electrical and software program architectures by way of the deal, whereas Rivian will get a giant pile of money.
- Rivian additionally stated it delivered 10,661 automobiles through the newest quarter, a 23% drop year-over-year.
Rivian obtained one other $1 billion from the Volkswagen Group on June 30, the electrical automobile startup introduced on Wednesday. Final quarter, Rivian hit a profitability milestone specified by the 2 firms’ partnership settlement. Now, the funds have really modified palms by way of a share sale to the German automaker.
That fee capped off a poor quarter for Rivian’s automobile gross sales. On Wednesday, Rivian stated it delivered 10,661 automobiles in Q2, 23% fewer than it bought throughout the identical interval in 2024. Rivian stated the changeover to its 2026-model-year vans and SUVs stunted manufacturing at its Regular, Illinois, manufacturing plant.
However the firm has additionally confronted a requirement drawback for its rugged R1S water and R1T pickup truck. The automobiles are charming, succesful and filled with considerate software program and options, however they could simply be too expensive to be quantity sellers.
The California-based agency’s annual deliveries remained primarily flat in 2024coming in at 51,579 models after a manufacturing snag slowed issues down within the final quarter. This yr, it goals to ship far fewer: between 40,000 and 46,000 automobiles. It lowered its steerage this yr, citing President Donald Trump’s tariffs on automotive elements and supplies.
Why Rivian Teamed Up With Volkswagen
Rivian’s future development rests on its subsequent act, the $45,000 R2 crossover. Rivian goals to place that in manufacturing in 2026 as its first mass-market automobile, one that may ship actual economies of scale. The Volkswagen deal is essential to that mission, seeing as Rivian has spent billions of {dollars} getting so far and has but to show a web revenue.
The primary VW EV to make use of Rivian’s underlying expertise would be the small, reasonably priced ID.Every1.
Photograph by: Volkswagen
Volkswagen and Rivian struck an settlement final yr that will inject $5.8 billion into the fledgling startup. In alternate, Volkswagen—which additionally owns Porsche, Audi, Bentley and a slew of different manufacturers—would get entry to Rivian’s underlying electrical architectures. That is primarily the “mind” of the automobile that permits it to be deeply updatable over time with wealthy software-enabled options.
VW has struggled to develop such capabilities in-house. The R2’s expertise will underpin all future EV tasks at Volkswagena Rivian government stated just lately, beginning with Volkswagen’s upcoming entry-level automotive.
Rivian says the VW funding ought to give it sufficient runway to ramp up manufacturing of the R2 and a subsequent, smaller mannequin, the R3.
Contact the writer: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com.
