This afternoon, Ford announced the termination of their collaboration with Rivian, following a row over increasing production of its EVs. Ford and Rivian have been planning since 2019 to collaborate on a joint-production deal for a Ford-branded electric car, and Ford CEO Jim Farley said the deal is on hold.
rivian silence
In a statement distributed by Ford Motors, it announced that the two companies “mutually decided to focus on their projects and deliveries. Emphasizing that it will not cooperate with Rivian, and will not even share electric car platforms with it.
According to the statement, Ford has determined that its ability to ramp up production of its own electric vehicles is strong enough that it can build its own electric vehicles without the help of the high-value startup . Which did not make any statements about the auto giant’s statement.
Ford forecast
Farley said Ford plans to produce 600,000 electric vehicles worldwide by the end of 2023, double what it had previously expected.
The $100bn car company you may not have heard of: It’s never made a profit… but electric truck-maker Rivian is worth more than GM and Ford.
Automotive News reported, citing Ford CEO, Jim Farley, that the plan to start Ford and EV Rivian to produce an electric car together under the Ford brand has been scrapped. What’s more, and in another statement, Farley said: Ford will now aim to build 600,000 electric cars worldwide by 2024 and that it aims to become the second company after Tesla.
It is worth noting that Ford entered into an agreement in April 2019 to cooperate with Rivian by investing $500 million . As the Wall Street Journal reports, the automaker narrowly won the deal ahead of rival General Motors, which was also meeting Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe in early 2019.
In the future, Ford was planning to use a platform called skateboard from Rivian, which supports the startup, but according to Farley, Ford is so far ahead in its EV program that it does not need to do this and will develop its future electric cars.
Ford had previously intended to produce an electric SUV with the Rivian but scrapped that plan in 2020. The car was expected to be called the Mark E, and Lincoln said it would move forward with plans to build the vehicle, based on the Rivian R1S SUV platform.
Notably, Rivian had a huge success with its initial public offering earlier in November , and that Ford, which owns a 12 percent stake in the startup, will reap what the Wall Street Journal described as a $7 billion “windfall”. And it looks like the relationship between Ford and Rivian will continue, with Farley saying that we “want to invest in Rivian – and we love their future as a company.”
In a statement Ford sent in response to press reports, it said, “As Ford has expanded its electric vehicle strategy, and as demand for Rivian vehicles has grown, we have mutually decided to focus on our projects and deliveries. Our relationship with the Rivian is an important part of our journey, and Ford will continue to be an investor and ally in our shared path to an electric future. “
It seems that the roots of the dispute between Ford and Rivian will be limited to the joint production of electric cars, while retaining the rest of the areas of cooperation between the ancient company Ford and the emerging company Rivian, because it is one of the investors in Rivian, with a percentage said to be 15%, which means that Ford will continue to Support and invest in Rivian.
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