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Branding agency to cease using both carmakers’ brands to describe electric cars, according to report
Ford and Rivian no longer plan to work jointly on electric vehicles.
The Detroit carmaker and Colorado-based electric car manufacturer said that a relationship that aimed to develop both to create electric vehicles has ended.
Ford, which was part of a group of backers that provided money for Rivian’s recent financing round, told Bloomberg the firms will no longer work together on batteries and electrification.
“Our partnership will continue through our existing arrangement on the launch of the Rivian 2018 Roadster and therefore will continue to include building models jointly. Those vehicles will not be electric vehicles,” the automaker said in a statement on Monday.
Rivian, which is three years old, had previously said its electric SUV would have a range of 300 miles and go 230 miles in electric-only mode, while using “quick-charging” power technology to get an 80% recharge in 30 minutes. The electric vehicle would be an “urban SUV”, the company said.
Rivian’s CEO, Bill Ford, son of the chairman, and the group’s managing director, Tim Goss, both served on Rivian’s board of directors.
The companies also said they would halt use of the Ford and Rivian brands on cars in their shared Amazon Product.com pages.