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Volkswagen invests up to $5B in Rivian
- N-Krause 2y agohttps://archive.ph/npfER https://archive.ph/npfER
- echelon 2y agoRivians are wildly popular here in Georgia. I'm not sure if that's because we have a Rivian plant, because our local demographic likes pickup trucks, or both. Their headlights are distinctive, making them almost impossible to miss.
- sgt 2y agoI remember in the beginning they were heavily criticized for the looks. They stuck to it, and now it's a recognizable (and trusted - more or less) brand.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- tempestn 2y agoI didn't hear much criticism. Have always thought they did well with the styling. And yeah, I might even say they have the best brand image of any electric car company at this point - which could be a big part of why VW wants this relationship.
- nojvek 2y agoR7 is gorgeous. If only I could afford it.
- vesinisa 2y agoDiscussion yesterday (97 comments): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40793174 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40793174
- constantcrying 2y agoI also pointed this out in the other thread, but VW is currently building up a direct competitor to Rivian. VW themselves says they want the investment for the Software of Rivian, which also is somewhat curious.
- neals 2y agoVW has had large problems getting their software processes straight. They've thrown money at the problem for years (instead of changing company culture, which needs to happen first) so I'm not surprised they'd buy a whole car company just for the software.
- constantcrying 2y ago>They've thrown money at the problem for years (instead of changing company culture, which needs to happen first) I don't think that is true at all. They even tried to create a separate company, just to focus on software, so that culture there could develop differently. It just didn't work out.
- dacryn 2y agobecause they forced their policies and standards onto the new startup company. It's the classic mistake: you setup a separate 'startup style' company to move fast, but give them too much budget and too much rules, so they just spend the budget on rebuilding the same mess instead of innovation. It's a consultant heaven to make a lot of money, but in the end this really only works if the group company stays in the dark for a considerable amount of time and doesn't impose their ideas
- MrBuddyCasino 2y ago> They even tried to create a separate company This is an attempt to sidestep the politically hairy problem of changing a company’s culture. This never works because the daughter company either gets eaten by the more powerful parent company‘s culture, or their output is ignored and never integrated back into the parent.
- TheDudeMan 2y agoI also invested up to $5B.
- vjaswal 2y agoTechnically correct, the best kind of correct.
- constantcrying 2y agoThe correct information is that VW did invest $1B and will invest $4B if certain conditions are met in the future.
- null_investor 2y agoThe article begins with VW investing $5B on them. Gotta love crappy Bloomberg journalism.
- fetzu 2y agoAfter this news, I might up my investment to up to $10B.
- kristiandupont 2y ago"He placed among the top 5 best in the race" Wow! I wonder if he was #1!
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Y_Y 2y agoI mentally translate "up to" as "less than", maybe it should be a browser extension.
- paulddraper 2y agoI invested up to $10B.
- maxehmookau 2y agoVW group cars' software is absolutely terrible. Buggy, slow. My top-of-the-range EV runs a UI that uses an outdated version of Angular. This can only be a good thing!
- moogly 2y agoGood news for both companies. I'm a bit surprised, because I thought VW would be pissed at Rivian that the R3 basically looks like a 1991 VW Golf[1] Country[2]. [1]: VW Rabbit for the North Americans [2]: https://www.flickr.com/photos/harry_nl/49087163666 https://www.flickr.com/photos/harry_nl/49087163666
- selimthegrim 2y agoProbably minus the NA labor problems.
- tssva 2y agoVW mostly stopped using the Rabbit name in 1985. It briefly made a come back in 2006 - 2009 for the Golf Mk5. The 1991 model would have been the Golf in NA. My parents purchased a 1987 VW Golf new which I then purchased from them in 1990 when leaving college. I owned it for another 4 years.
- emmet 2y agoThe R3 is definitely going to be the thing that gets them into Europe. It looks fantastic and actually fits on our roads.
- piva00 2y agoThe R3 looks much more like a Range Rover than a small and nimble 90s VW Golf.
- moogly 2y agoI really cannot agree at all. Maybe, maybe you can make an argument for the R2, but even that is more diminutive than most Range Rovers.
- piva00 2y agoSo perhaps Land Rovers are a better comparison? It surely reminds me a lot of the design of the Evoque which is quite small by Land/Range Rover standards.
- LightBug1 2y agoUnsure why they would do this considering the EV know-how they have under their umbrella ... I mean, Porsche to start with, Rimac... Maybe eyeing another brand to collect. I'm all for it. The more Tesla competitors the better. I need them to be healthy. I'm probably about 5 years away from buying an EV (I just don't believe in the current crop and I've tested quite a few) and I'm not willing to be a guinea pig.
- tibbydudeza 2y agoThey have the ID platform but it is too expensive for making the ID.2 and a potential Renault tieup with their cheap EV Zoe/Dacia platform fell through. They also have a tie-up with Xpeng in China for a China only EV platform. Why have another iron in the fire with Rivian if they only make a US only truck and compact SUV ???. VW is flailing about.
- ChrisArchitect 2y ago[dupe] Some more discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40793174 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40793174