Electric cars: VW partner Rivian receives second billion injections

Volkswagen increases participation in his US partner Rivian. After the Tesla challenger met the prerequisites in early May, a second payment of $ 1 billion (approx. 850 million euros) is now due on this Monday, with which VW is involved in Rivian. VW had already entered the US company with one billion dollars last year and has been holding 8.6 percent of the US company since then.

The money injections are part of the cooperation between the two companies. Last year Volkswagen agreed to invest up to $ 5.8 billion in the project. This gives Wolfsburg access to Rivian’s electronics architecture and hope to help solve their software problems. Rivian gives the billions of air from Germany to raise the production of a cheaper model in the coming year to increase sales.

VW could replace Amazon as the largest shareholder

Of the up to $ 5.8 billion that Europe’s largest car manufacturer wants to spend on the project, $ 3.5 billion is in Rivian shares. The first billion flowed immediately last year. Another three installments will follow as soon as fixed project progress has been reached. In return, the proportion that VW holds to Rivian increases every time. In the end, Volkswagen could be the greatest single shareholder at Rivian. So far the Amazon is.

In addition, $ 2.3 billion will flow into the joint company Rivian Volkswagen Technologies launched at the end of 2024. In the end, the majority of it goes back to the US partner – for the purchase of technology and software that the Americans bring into the project. Based on Rivian technology, the joint venture is to develop a new electronics architecture and software for electric cars, which can then be used for both partners.

The Wolfsburgers have had to deal with problems with in-house software development for years, and there was always delay. As a result, several model starts have already been delayed, some of them by several years. Rivian, on the other hand, developed its own architecture from the start, in which the auto electronics are divided into several zones with its own computers and which therefore manages with significantly fewer control devices.

The first VW model with the new Rivian technology is scheduled to be the Elektro-Kleinwagen ID.1 in 2027, the VW in March the ID study. EVERY1 had shown. The car is to be built in the Portuguese VW plant in Palmela. A targeted purchase price: 20,000 euros. The use of the Rivian technology is intended to help press the price accordingly. Thanks to large quantities, there are cost advantages here, it said at VW.

Subsequently, CEO Oliver Blume would like to roll out the Rivian technology across the group. According to the core brand VW, Audi should follow, later Porsche “and then come to all other brands,” said Blume in November at the start of the joint venture. The new US brand Scout should also start with Rivian technology in 2027. It is not used in China: there VW relies on a cooperation with the electric car manufacturer Xpeng. And burners are also left out: the new architecture is designed purely for electric cars.

US partner in red numbers

The fact that Rivian took the hurdle for the second billion injection from Wolfsburg still has nothing to do with technical progress in the project. The only prerequisite was to achieve financial profit goals with the partner. The company, founded in 2009, has been struggling with red figures for years, but was now able to complete two quarters in a row with gross profit.

This opened the door for payment from Wolfsburg. The bottom line was that Rivian also wrote red numbers in the past quarter. After all, the loss of net could be significantly reduced – from $ 1.445 billion to $ 541 million.

For the next two transfers from Wolfsburg, the technology must also be delivered. The next billion is expected to flow in mid -2026 when certain technological milestones are reached. Another 500 million dollars are then scheduled as the final payment in 2027 as soon as the first VW with Rivian technology goes into a row.