Mercedes Benz and Rivian form joint venture to build EV vans in Europe

Published , by Morgan Shaver

In an interesting announcement today, it was revealed that Mercedes-Benz and Rivian are partnering on a joint venture to manufacture commercial electric vans. The companies will build two different EV models, one for Mercedes and one for Rivian, though both models will be built on the same assembly line.

To help make this possible, the companies plan to establish a new EV-only production facility at an existing Mercedes-Benz factory in Europe. Joint production on these EVs will begin in “a few years” with an exact date or time frame yet to be shared.

© Lyndon French | The New York Times

The partnership is noteworthy for many reasons, particularly given that Rivian is a newer manufacturer, while Mercedes has a longer history in regards to manufacturing commercial vans and vehicles. As noted by outlets like CNBC, Rivian only began manufacturing EV delivery vans for Amazon this year “a few months after it began production of its own upscale electric pickups and SUVs” in its Illinois factory.

For more on Rivian, catch up with some of our previous coverage including Amazon (AMZN) taking a $3.9 billion writedown in Q2 2022 on its Rivian (RIVN) investment.