Rivian and Mercedes They signed the memorandum of understanding in September this year, which will explore the production of electric commercial vehicles in Europe. That plan has now been shelved as Rivian changed course and focused on its current offering.
Rivian has decided to withdraw from the deal without going any further and the company wants to put more emphasis on its domestic market, which will likely benefit both its consumer and business customers.
Responding to the news with understanding, Mercedes supports Rivian’s decision and claims its own plans are not affected. Mercedes is accelerating preparations for full-scale production of the electric van at its custom factory in Jawor, Poland.
While both companies have agreed to suspend their plans, this isn’t a complete cancellation, at least not yet. Mercedes and RivianThey hope they can return to the table at a point in the future when markets are less unpredictable.
This is an understandable decision by Rivian, the company is abandoning most of its plans and its core business, R1T and R1S seems to be trying to focus on electric trucks. He still has a huge contract to fulfill with Amazon and is already planning to bring a smaller SUV to the American market.
This decision is nothing short of an acknowledgment that Rivian has spread its resources very thinly and that someone pulled the emergency brake this time before going full throttle on big commitments. On the one hand, it is not a good look for the company that invited Mercedes to the table and then walked away, on the other hand, it shows that the management is finally starting to be realistic about the company’s capabilities and this can be read as a good signal for investors.