Local company signs $500 million Ford joint partnership

Rivian, the electric vehicle company located in Plymouth Township, and Ford Motor Co. have formed a strategic partnership worth more than $500 million. Together, the two automakers have agreed to jointly develop a new, all-electric Ford vehicle built on the Rivian “skateboard” platform.
Ford will not use the Rivian technology for the upcoming all-electric F-150 pickup truck. The automaker clarified that the Ford battery electric F-150 has been in internal development for quite some time and the company will not change those plans.
Instead, Ford will use the Rivian skateboard platform for an all-new vehicle.
“This strategic partnership marks another key milestone in our drive to accelerate the transition to sustainable mobility,” said Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe last week. “Ford has a long-standing commitment to sustainability, with Bill Ford being one of the industry's earliest advocates, and we are excited to use our technology to get more electric vehicles on the road.”
As part of the agreement, Ford Executive Vice President Joe Hinrichs will join the Rivian board of directors.
The talks had been rumored for several months. In February, a Rivian-based pickup was found to be re-bodied as a Ford F-150 pickup, which was originally believed to be a Rivian test mule based on comments made by Scaringe. The CEO mentioned at the time that there were no ties between Rivian and Ford.
Rivian will still continue its efforts to build its own vehicles in addition to the Ford deal, according to the company.  The Rivian highly-praised R1T pickup and R1S SUV have both been the subject of interest by investors and consumers around the world-earlier this year, Rivian successfully raised $700 million in capital, headlined by retail giant Amazon.