The German automobile group Volkswagen announced on Tuesday a gigantic investment of 5 billion dollars (4.67 billion euros) to create a joint venture specialized in automotive software with the American electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian.
“Volkswagen and Rivian intend to create a joint venture to manufacture the next generation of vehicle software architecture, which will be used in future electric vehicles from the two companies,” the group said in a press release.
The company “will invest an initial amount of $1 billion in Rivian, before an additional investment of $4 billion, for a total amount of €5 billion,” he detailed.
“This partnership is expected to accelerate software development for Rivian and the Volkswagen Group,” the group added.
The American startup Rivian specializes in the manufacture of fully electric trucks, vans and SUVs.
Common software architecture
This agreement “will guarantee (our) capital needs for our growth,” said its boss and founder, Robert Scaringe, quoted in the statement.
“This fits perfectly with our current software strategy, our products and our partnerships. We are strengthening our technological profile and our competitiveness,” said Volkswagen boss Oliver Blume.
During a video conference, the latter said that he expected a new common software architecture to be established “in the coming weeks.”
Following this announcement, Rivian shares rose 41.60% around 21:15 GMT in electronic trading after the close of Wall Street.
The German group is launching a race for electric and connected cars in order to defend its place, especially in China, its main market, where competition is intensifying against local players.
To achieve this goal, Oliver Blume renewed its strategy in the sector in 2023, which has become a priority, with the renewal of the subsidiary Cariad, responsible for coding the software of future electric and autonomous models.
Volkswagen wants to dedicate two-thirds of its total investments of 180 billion euros to these technologies until 2027, an increase of 13% compared to its previous multi-year investment plan.
Source: BFM TV
