Rivian and the Volkswagen Group have formally announced their new $5.8 billion (£4.5 billion / €5.4 billion) joint venture, known as Rivian and VW Group Technologies. While using both of their names, the automakers confirmed that their JV will operate as an independent company.
Through it, the OEMs are aiming to develop next-generation electrical architecture and software technologies that will mutually benefit their future EVs in all relevant segments. In developing these systems and technologies, the companies expect to leverage the pairing of Rivian’s software and electrical hardware with the Volkswagen Group’s global reach and platform competencies. In combining these strengths, the companies are ultimately aiming to reduce development costs and scale new technologies more quickly, while offering customers advanced technologies as early as possible.
Rivian and VW Group Technologies will be headed by Wassym Bensaid (Chief Software Officer at Rivian) and Carsten Helbing (the Volkswagen Group’s Chief Technology Engineer), with development and software engineering staff from both companies also set to join it. These teams will initially be based in Palo Alto, CA, while three further sites undergo development in North America and Europe.
Rivian’s upcoming electric SUV, the R2, will be the first to benefit from the JV – which will aim to use the existing Rivian electrical architecture and software technology stack to support its launch in the first half of 2026. It will then go on to support models from the Volkswagen Group, the first of which are expected to launch in 2027. Here, the JV will evolve Rivian’s modular, flexible, electrical architecture – scaling it across a broader range of price points and international markets to facilitate new, high-volume, vehicle generations capable of advanced automated driving functions as well as OTA updates and upgrades.
While announcing their JV, the OEMs highlighted a recent demonstration of its potential, in which teams from both companies jointly developed an initial drivable demonstrator vehicle. The vehicle was initially supplied by the Volkswagen Group and retrofitted to run on Rivian’s zonal hardware design and its integrated technology platform, a pairing that for both companies represented their scalability and integration capabilities while further proving the potential of the joint venture itself.
Financially, Rivian and VW Group Technologies finds its footing in a $5.8 billion (£4.5 billion / €5.4 billion) investment made by the Volkswagen Group into both the JV and Rivian. While this investment will be made between now and 2027, the Volkswagen Group confirmed that an initial investment of $1 billion (£784.9 million / €942.2 million), in the form of a convertible note, has already been made.
At closing, the Volkswagen Group will invest around $1.3 billion (£1 billion / €1.2 billion) as consideration for background IP licenses and gain a 50% equity stake in the joint venture. These investments will likewise balance part of lower future costs identified during the technical feasibility tests, and the sharing of costs for the inclusion of selected Volkswagen MEB models. The remaining investment (of up to $3.5 billion / £2.7 billion / €3.2 billion) is expected to come in the form of equity, convertible notes, and debt at future dates, and based on clearly defined milestones. Further investments will similarly be tied to the JV’s future operational, technical, and financial milestones.
