Rivian and Volkswagen announced an expanded joint venture Tuesday night, with the first resulting VW vehicles due as as early as 2027. Rivian stock surged early Wednesday.
The EV startup and German auto giant in June announced plans for a joint venture of up $5 billion. Now VW will invest up to $5.8 billion. The deal gives Volkswagen access to Rivian's software technology, while the U.S. EV maker gets much-needed cash and better economies of scale.
The joint venture will be headed by Wassym Bensan, Rivian's chief software officer, and Carsten Helbing, VW's chief technology officer. They'll oversee some 1,000 engineers from both companies.
VW aims to launch vehicles in 2027 with tech from the JV in the Volkswagen and Scout brands.
VW is struggling, with its software seem as lagging in electric vehicles.
Rivian stock jumped 11% in premarket trade. Shares have plunged 55% in 2024.
VW stock was not yet active in extended action. Shares have dived 30% this year.
VW-XPeng Alliance
Separately, VW in July 2023 agreed to invest $700 million in XPeng, forging an alliance to jointly make vehicles using the Chinese EV maker's architecture. Last week, China media reported that the Volkswagen Anhui joint venture in China will start using CEA architecture designed with XPeng, starting in late 2025 or early 2026.
XPeng stock rose more than 3% early Wednesday. Shares plunged 10.65% to 13.67 on Tuesday after hitting an 11-month high Monday.
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