 VW - Rivian (1)
What actually prompted VW to invest $5 billion in Rivian, albeit not directly, but over time? First, there are the enormous losses that Rivian has made and will likely continue to make.
There is talk of 1.5 billion per quarter and between 30,000 and 43,000 dollars per pickup sold. It had already been signaled that construction of the factory in Georgia would be temporarily
halted. Remember Tesla, which was once on the verge of bankruptcy shortly before delivering the Model 3.
It's strange that the 5 billion that VW wants to invest corresponds almost exactly to the amount that is apparently going to be spent on building the factory. Is VW building a new factory in the
US, just under a different name? However, the joint venture dates from fall 2024, and there is no mention of customs duties yet.
There seems to be a gap in the US in the supply of more affordable, all-electric pickup trucks. The Rivian pickups could even go on to conquer Europe, so new and at the same time typical is
their appearance.
One has to mention Rivian's previous life, the all-electric delivery vans for Amazon. Rivian went public with this venture in 2021. But after the initial hype, the share price fell sharply. It's said that Rivian isn't
comparable to Tesla, the sole provider at the time.
Obviously, Rivian has either lost or invested a lot of money in research and development, depending on how you look at it. And of course the factory would be the second. Unfortunately, the new vehicles from
the first factory can probably only be sold for less money.
VW's investment may be a win not only in terms of money, but also in terms of the technology used to manufacture vehicles at the Illinois factory. The hope is for huge production numbers, which should give
buyers more power additionally with VW.
VW, for its part, hopes the deal will solve its software problems. Finally, the longed-for software-defined car is to be created and at the same time perhaps even the problems with the many brands and
requirements can be brought to a third-party solution.
Rivian handles its car software quite differently than almost all other OEMs. Roughly speaking, the vehicle is controlled by significantly fewer control units and should be able to be updated repeatedly
throughout its lifetime.
Whether Tesla has completely blazed the trail is still questionable, because one still has some suppliers. But the Over-The-Air-Update seems to be working really well. VW
countered this with Cariad (translated: 'Car, I'm digital').
Despite a huge investment of money and personnel, it proved to be considerably more difficult than expected to produce all the software used in the vehicle in-house. Around 4.4 million euros have allegedly
been 'burned' up to and including 2023. The CEO and Board of Directors were re-examined.
Individual daughters tended to withdraw from the joint activities. Porsche announced increased collaboration with Google in the area of infotainment. A new manager from Rivian, formerly employed by Tesla,
joined the team.
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