San Francisco, November 21st : .Rivian and Ford Motor have cancelled their plans to collaborate on an electric car (EV), they confirmed. CNBC reports that the two companies first announced the creation of a joint vehicle in 2019 when Rivian, an automaker, invested $500 million.
Later, they said that it would be for Ford’s luxury Lincoln brand.They then cancelled those plans last year.Ford at that time stated that the automakers will continue to seek out other collaboration opportunities.
According to Ian Thibodeau, Ford spokesperson, those plans have been abandoned.According to Thibodeau, the company still has ties with Rivian.
This includes a 12 percent stake in the startup, which was valued at more than $10 Billion last week.
Ford stated in an email that Rivian is respected and they have held extensive exploratory talks with Ford.
However, neither side has agreed to any joint vehicle development nor platform sharing.
Rivian has a much greater market value than Ford and Friday’s confirmation confirmed that plans were canceled.
In an email statement, Ford stated that Rivian has been growing in demand and Ford has developed its own EV strategy.”We have agreed to concentrate on our projects and deliveries,” it said.
It added that Ford was an integral part of its journey and remains an investor as well as an ally in our mutual path to electrified tomorrow.
Jim Farley, Ford CEO, cited Ford’s “growing confidence” in “winning in the electric area” as the reason to terminate the partnership.
He said that comparing today to when the investment was made, there has been a lot of change: in our abilities, the direction of the brand, and it is now more clear to us what to do.” Automotive News first reported this development.
He said, “We are interested in Rivian because we believe they have the future of a great company.But at this stage we will be developing our own cars.”
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