Rivian announced a plan to build electric vans in Europe at a joint plant with Mercedes-Benz just a few months ago, in September. This plan has now been halted.
Rivian announced on Monday that it is suspending the plan in order to focus on its existing Amazon exclusive van and consumer vehicles, though the company remains open to future collaborations with Mercedes.
“At this point in time, we believe focusing on our consumer business, as well as our existing commercial business, represent the most attractive near-term opportunities to maximize value for Rivian,” RJ Scaringe, Rivian’s CEO and co-founder, said in a statement.
The two companies had signed a memorandum of understanding for a contract to manufacture vans at a newly built plant in Europe. Both automakers would build large electric vans at the plant using their respective platforms.
Mercedes-Benz announced on Monday that it intends to move forward with building its own Vans at the plant located in Jawor, Poland.
On the other hand, Rivian seems to be scaling back on other plans, such as delaying a range of smaller, more affordable EVs based on a new R2 platform by at least one year. The young company wants to focus on its core products namely the R1T pick up truck and the R1S SUV
