Last June, VW said it would invest $5 billion in Rivian as part of a new joint venture that’s focused on developing a new electrical architecture and vehicle software for future models, including subcompact cars, with the first planned for 2027. The investment size has now increased to $5.8 billion.

The venture will be jointly run by Rivian's Chief Software Officer, Wassym Bensaid, and Carsten Helbing, Volkswagen Group's CTO. They'll serve as co-CEOs. It'll be based in Palo Alto, California, to start. Three more sites are in development North America and Europe, the companies said on Tuesday.

Rivian Automotive Inc. and Volkswagen Group have launched their upsized joint venture, vowing to join forces to create “cutting edge” EV technology.

The joint venture targets Rivian’s existing electrical architecture and software technology stack, enabling the launch of Rivian’s R2 model in the first half of 2026, the companies said.

Volkswagen Group raised its investment in Rivian by 16% to $5.8 billion and the two companies said on Tuesday they were launching their previously announced joint venture to develop electric vehicle architecture and software.

The companies said the deal is now up to $5.8 billion, with the first VW models to use Rivian's software and electrical architecture arriving as early as 2027.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group launched on Tuesday the joint venture they had announced in June, valued at $5.8 billion, to share software and electric vehicle architecture.