Rivian and Mercedes-Benz suspend van partnership

A joint venture between Rivian and Mercedes-Benz melted faster than an ice cube in a warm cup of tea.

Based on plan announced at the beginning of September this year the Rivian and Mercedes-Benz joint venture will use a Mercedes-Benz plant in “Central/Eastern Europe” to produce electric trucks based on Mercedes’ VAN.EA platform- Benz and later Rivian’s second generation light truck architecture.

In an overnight statement, Mercedes-Benz said the joint production of “all-electric large trucks is on hold as Rivian is reorganizing projects”.

Rivian sent a separate letter to shareholders confirming the halt to its European truck plans.

“At this time, we believe that focusing on our existing consumer business as well as our existing commercial business are the most attractive short-term opportunities to maximize value for Rivian,” RJ Scaringe, founder and CEO of Rivian, said in the letter. .

As a result of today’s announcement, the Mercedes-Benz battery and engine plant in Jawor, Poland, near the border of Germany and the Czech Republic, will become the fourth vehicle production facility for the division. the automaker’s van and produce the next-generation Sprinter van.

Rivian currently produces three vehicles: the R1T pickup truck, the closely related R1S crossover, and the EDV 700 van.

The latter runs on its own dedicated platform and is currently produced exclusively for Amazon, one of the automaker’s largest shareholders. The online retail giant has an order for 100,000 Rivian trucks.

Due to global semiconductor shortages and other supply chain issues, Rivian has struggled to fill orders for the R1T and R1S, which the company says numbered more than 100,000 vehicles.

Just 25,000 Rivians are expected to be produced this year, less than half of the original forecast. Thus, Rivian was swimming in red ink, with a Q3 net loss of 1.7 billion USD (2.5 billion USD).

All of these cars are manufactured at Rivian’s plant in Normal, Illinois. The plant, about 200 kilometers from Chicago, was formerly owned by Mitsubishi Motors and produces vehicles for Mitsubishi, Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth.