Wow is all we can say. Ford announced just a few minutes ago a massive investment in EV startup Rivian.
More specifically, Ford plans to invest $500 million into Rivian who so far has introduced us to the Rivian R1T pickup and Rivian R1S SUV. Both are fully electric and now thanks to this new and important investment from Ford, a new 100-percent electric vehicle is on the way.
The investment buys Ford a minority investment in Rivian who will lend its skateboard platform for the development of a new fully electric Ford vehicle. Part of Ford’s global electrification strategy to which $11 billion dollars have been allocated, the new Ford EV will join an electric Ford F-150 and Mustang-inspired electric crossover set to debut next year.
“This strategic partnership marks another key milestone in our drive to accelerate the transition to sustainable mobility,” said RJ Scaringe, Rivian founder and CEO. “Ford has a long-standing commitment to sustainability, with Bill Ford being one of the industry’s earliest advocates, and we are excited to use our technology to get more electric vehicles on the road.”
Ford President of Automotive Joe Hinrichs will be joining Rivian’s board as part of the investment as well. Back in February Rivian and Amazon confirmed a $750 million dollar investment by the tech giant that solidified the EV builder’s future and growth. There have been talks of a GM investment in the last few months, but it will be interesting to see where talks stand after Ford’s investment.
Rivian and Ford have been working together for a little bit with Rivian using F-150 bodies to test its new R1T pickup.
[…] truck in a quarterly earnings call with investors yesterday. The news comes on the heels of a massive investment by Ford in EV startup Rivian who’s also planning an electric […]