Rivian and Ford have flipped the bird to General Motors. Both the electric-car startup and GM’s crosstown rival announced on Wednesday a $500 million investment.
Ford’s $500 million investment comes after long-running rumors surrounding a potential GM-Rivian tie-up. Ultimately, Rivian founder and CEO, R.J. Scaringe, hinted Rivian walked away from GM investment due to possible exclusivity contracts. Rivian said it plans to build vehicles for multiple companies and automakers using its scalable skateboard platform.
That’s exactly what Rivian will help Ford do. Ford CEO Jim Hackett confirmed in a conference call that Rivian’s platform will underpin a new electric vehicle from Ford in the future. Details surrounding what kind of vehicle it will be were not mentioned. However, Rivian has a focus on trucks and SUVs. Ford also decided to exit the passenger car market, which is enough evidence to suggest the forthcoming Rivian-Ford electric vehicle will be a truck or SUV of sorts.
Rivian will provide the platform, while Ford suggested it will manufacture the vehicle at one of its own assembly plants.
The new vehicle is also separate from Ford’s prior announcements that it plans for a Mustang-inspired electric crossover and an electric F-150 pickup truck.
For GM, it’s a slap to the face. The automaker and Rivian were reportedly quite close to closing a deal on a substantial investment. As mentioned, it appears likely any sort of exclusivity clause eventually caused Rivian to walk away from a GM deal. The benefits would have been very similar in a GM deal, like the Ford announcement today. Rivian would benefit from GM’s manufacturing expertise, while GM would gain access to a platform and technology to bring electric vehicles to market quicker.
The investment also quickly transforms Rivian into a serious contender. Unlike Tesla, which has largely gone it alone to tackle the established legacy automakers, Rivian has decided to cozy up where it sees fit.
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Comments
Great move by Ford. Stupid decision by GM.
Hopefully GM’s own EV Tech comes close.
what happened to the tesla truck? is that 5 years ahead of rivian too? or is it 10 years?
“Ford also decided to exit the passenger car market” for the US only, China and some european countries (like Norway) are “leading the charge” for EVs…
GM had a skateboard platform for its hydrogen test vehicles — not sure why another company seems to be beating GM to the punch on this for electric vehicles.
Seems everyone is beating GM to the punch- they used to be leaders now they are relegated to making average to below average vehicles -They have gone back to the bean counter mentality were all they care about is save a few bucks to max profits – well it does not work that way- that is why the competition is all over them and they are losing- GIVE THE CUSTOMER QUALITY AND FEATURES and they will buy – keep producing what you are and watch your market share dwindle and fast – By the way – I am a GM supporter but it is getting harder and harder to stick up for their product because there are a lot of BETTER options out there (as a matter of fact I have stopped because there is no argument to be had in positive light for GM). SMARTEN UP GM
You are all very wrong. GM actually is quite far in their electric vehicle platforms. What GM has done here with Rivian, they have its upper management, tech guys and few manufacturing guys take at in depth look at how the Rivian Vehicles are put together and what exactly the platform is , in regards to the skate platform and battery ranges.
GM did want a more exclusive deal and easy access to another and LIL bit different platform than what they currently are working on. GM ultimately walked away as there are discussions with other Auto Manufacturers that may prove more beneficial and give GM and this other maybe German Manufacturer a huge one up and big lead in Skate Platforms and battery electric and hybrid tech.
GM is not late too the game here folks. Under Mary Barra and Mark Ruess – GM has quietly and invested hugely in what they call “Trust Tech” they learned from the mistakes of old GM and want consumers and the industry and investors to know GM can be trusted in creating high quality electric and hybrid vehicles with amazing quality and range.
Investing huge amounts in Rivian and not being exclusive may actually shoot Rivian in the foot later. Their Skate platform is unproven, not thoroughly tested and tested ranges in different weather and other stress cope areas is also not thoroughly tested. Manufacturers like GM pour a huge amount of hours and capital vetting their tech and making sure its proven, before consumers see them.
GM has a few different Skate Platforms coming. Mary and Mark have barely hinted at it but trust me they already knew their trucks and SUVs are their bread and butter and they use the most gas in consumers eyes and hurt the environment most with poor mileage. GM has as I said kept their deck of cards close to their chest. A few different partnerships will be announced shortly in regards to Battery Charging Station infrastructure and Sharing tech/manufacturing synergies with another big Auto Manufacturer.
Many forget that image GM showed with all those cars under covers when they announced they were working on many different styles of electric vehicles. Watch GM closely and trust me they will be fine. What they are secretly doing will stun the industry, media and consumers.
Old GM and New GM looks like the same arogant company which only cares about Wall Street reputation than costumer. Look at new model strategy: just average but quite expensive models (Silverado vs RAM 1500, CT5 vs original Escala, XT4 vs Lincoln Corsair, closed factories, deleted sedans and hybrid Volt), no Hybrid, no modern technology and satisfied costumer. They still talking about EVs but in fact trying to buy more stupid trucks and SUV. New EV from Caddy is ready for the end of 2021 but at this time will be too late.
It’s hard to believe GM has changed that much in the 20 years I’ve been retired from them. GM was always compared to a large aircraft carrier at sea in the way they operated. An aircraft carrier travels in excess of 35 knots in a straight line, but when it begins to turn it takes many miles of sea to turn around. GM has always been like that, they really did good going in a straight line but if the market required a change in direction it took a long time to accomplish the new direction. Basically they were to big to fail, as we’ve all seen nobody is to big to fall, maybe the new management can pull it off, I hope so, I like my pension checks.
Where are these vehicles going to be built?
Rivian owns the former Chrysler/Mitsubishi joint plant in Normal, Il where they used to build the Stratus, Sebring, and Galant.
whatever happened to the one or two hundred million ford invested in electric scooters? how is that working out?
Probably about as well as GM’s electric bikes and scooters.
Never seen one in my travels, but GM did crowdsource a ‘name our product’ contest in Nov 2018. Which is young, hip and cool! And then, crickets.
No word on how that turned out.
did gm pay hundreds of million for that electric bike? because that would make them look really stupid.
Redesign that front end. Truck drivers want an aggressive design that says that there is power under the hood. That looks like a new character for a Disney series.
When the business owner that needs a truck for their livelihood can realize that they don’t have to budget $160 CAD for a fill-up that there are no more brakes to replace and no oil changes to worry about without sacrificing the power behind their vehicle… the line ups will be long.
I will miss the rumble of my Cat-back MBRP Exhaust though. mmm love that purr. But my friend who has a Tesla spent like 25 bucks on charging their car for the YEAR. Its 135 Liters in my F150. and I use half of that a week. uugh. And if you can write off your truck as a business expense. It’s a no brainer.