The American electric car manufacturer Rivian has abandoned plans with the Mercedes-Benz car group for the joint production of electric vans in Europe.
Rivian’s decision comes three months after both carmakers agreed to share costs and scale production.
Rivian, through CEO Robert Scaringe, says that the company wants to focus on its products and consumers. However, the decision is striking because an agreement was signed with Mercedes-Benz in September to operate a German car manufacturer van factory jointly. With this, the companies wanted to set up a new assembly line in Central or Eastern Europe for electric vans.
Mercedes-Benz said in a response that plans to electrify vans and ramp up European production are not affected by Rivian’s decision. The company indicates that it will continue to work in a special factory for the production process in Jawor, Poland.
At the beginning of November, the Limburg car factory VDL Nedcar already reported that it had failed to reach a production deal with Rivian on two occasions. According to CEO Willem van der Leegte, this would be due to external factors, including developments in the capital market and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, which “changed the playing field worldwide”.