And their $700m also bought them a seat on the board.
EV startup Rivian is one of the hottest names in the industry at the moment, after the company came out of ‘stealth mode’ with not one, but two incredibly well-designed electric vehicles in the forms of the R1T ute and R1S SUV, which sit on unique architecture that maximises EV capability like nothing before it. That architecture, referred to as the ‘skateboard,’ will now be used by Ford as part of their $700-million investment in the firm.
“This strategic partnership marks another key milestone in our drive to accelerate the transition to sustainable mobility. Ford has a long-standing commitment to sustainability, with Bill Ford being one of the industry’s earliest advocates, and we are excited to use our technology to get more electric vehicles on the road.” – RJ Scaringe, Founder & CEO, Rivian
Ford’s investment into Rivian comes at a total of US$500-million, which comes after a second-round of investment that caught some US$700-million led by Amazon. As a result of the investment, Ford’s bought a seat on the board of directors, and they’ll also benefit from at least one model that will most likely be an SUV of some sort.
The American automaker (Ford, not Rivian) has recently gone to great lengths to widen its cooperation with other carmakers in a bid to reduce R&D and manufacturing costs where possible. Ford has been engaged with Volkswagen with regards to the development of commercial vehicles, and have already agreed to co-develop the next-generation Amarok and Ranger on a shared platform, with the Transit and Transporter set to go the same way too. There was also reportedly discussions surrounding possible Ford usage of Volkswagen’s MEB EV platform, though it’s unclear how the recent developments with Rivian might affect this.
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