Ford And Rivian EV Plans Come To A Halt

One of Rivian's largest investors, Ford, will not be building an EV (electric vehicle) with the company anymore. The original plan was for Ford to develop this EV with the help of advanced technologies from Rivian. This development has been officially confirmed by Rivian. The company also stated that Ford has already accelerated its own blueprints for EVs while demand has also gone up for Rivian vehicles on the side.

Hence, both companies have taken a mutual decision to emphasize upon their own deliveries and projects. The plan was to originally come up with an electric Lincoln SUV model although this got cancelled after the coronavirus pandemic. Ford still left open a chance for joint possibilities. Then-CFO at the brand, Tim Stone, stated that Lincoln has already decided to adopt a unique electrification-based approach in 2020. At the same time, he also talked about staying committed as a partner towards Rivian, while looking for more partnership opportunities with the company for Ford's non-Lincoln models.

While announcing the decision, Rivian also highlighted the Ford chapter as a vital part of its overall journey till date, adding that Ford is still a major investor and collaborator on its shared journey towards electrification. Ford had to push competitor General Motors out of the race for getting its share of 12% in Rivian as per previous reports. Rivian has a market cap nearing $110 billion in recent times, with Ford having a market value of roughly $77.5 billion.

Rivian is currently busy with its pre-order backlog of 55,400 units, going till end-2023 as per its regulatory filings. The company is also striving to ensure deliveries of 10,000 electric vans for deliveries to its biggest investor, Amazon. The timeline is reportedly end-2022.