SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Rivian denied a media report on Tuesday that stated the U.S. electrical automobile firm was in early talks with Volkswagen to increase their partnership past a just lately introduced software program three way partnership.
Shares of Rivian dipped 1.5% in prolonged commerce.
German newspaper Handelsblatt reported, citing individuals accustomed to the matter, that an prolonged partnership may embody producing Rivian’s smaller and cheaper R2 SUV at VW’s South Carolina plant, which is at present being constructed and the place it to date plans to provide Scout-branded SUVs and pickups from 2026.
Rivian stated it had not modified its plans to start out producing the R2 at its manufacturing facility in Regular, Illinois, adopted by manufacturing at a deliberate Georgia plant.
“There are not any plans for manufacturing of autos with Volkswagen Group,” a Rivian spokesperson stated in an e-mail to Reuters.
Volkswagen declined to remark, saying its clear focus was on the proposed three way partnership with Rivian. Its U.S. model Scout didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco and Victoria Waldersee in BerlinAdditional reporting by Noel Randewich in Oakland, CaliforniaEditing by Matthew Lewis)