Ford, Rivian cancel plans to jointly develop EV: Report

The two companies initially announced the development of a joint vehicle when the automaker invested $500 million in Rivian in 2019, reports CNBC.

They later said it would be for Ford's luxury Lincoln brand, before cancelling those plans last year. Ford, at the time, said the automakers would still seek other opportunities to collaborate.

Those plans also have now been scrapped, according to Ford spokesman Ian Thibodeau. He said the company retains ties with Rivian, including a 12 per cent stake in the start-up, which at the company's IPO last week reached a value of more than $10 billion.

"We respect Rivian and have had extensive exploratory discussions with them, however, both sides have agreed not to pursue any kind of joint vehicle development or platform sharing," Ford said in an emailed statement.

Rivian, which has a far greater market value now than Ford, on Friday confirmed the termination of plans.

"As Ford has scaled its own EV strategy and demand for Rivian vehicles has grown, we have mutually decided to focus on our own projects and deliveries," the company said in an emailed statement.

"Our relationship with Ford is an important part of our journey, and Ford remains an investor and ally on our shared path to an electrified future," it added.

Ford CEO Jim Farley referenced the automaker's "growing confidence" to "win in the electric space" as reasoning to end the collaboration.

"When you compare today with when we originally made that investment, so much has changed: about our ability, about the brand's direction in both cases, and now it's more certain to us what we have to do," he told Automotive News, which first reported the development.

"We want to invest in Rivian -- we love their future as a company -- but at this point we are going to develop our own vehicles," he added.