Rivian‘s software chief pushed back on Wednesday against a German magazine report that Volkswagen could replace Rivian’s technology with China-developed software in most of its next-generation mass-market cars, saying the companies’ joint venture plans had not changed.
Wassym Bensaid, Rivian’s Chief Software Officer and co-CEO of the Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies joint venture, also said Volkswagen’s low-cost ID. 1 remained on track to launch next year.
He made the comments on X in reply to an article who had shared Reuters‘ account of the report.
Rivian shares were down 2.03% at $11.58 as of publication time.
What was reported
Thomas Schäfer, who runs the Volkswagen brand and the group’s Core brand group, wants to build about three-quarters of the next generation of Volkswagen, Skoda and Cupra models on the China Electronic Architecture (CEA) instead of Rivian’s technology, manager magazin reported on Monday, citing insiders.
The architecture is finished and already works in China, including in cars built on older European group platforms, the magazine said.
CEA is the software and electronics architecture Volkswagen began developing in China with Xpeng in 2023. Its Hefei development center and the China arm of software unit Cariad then developed it further, and Volkswagen now holds the intellectual property rights, the magazine said.
Schäfer wants CEA for the SSP31 f and h platforms, covering every electric car above the size of the Polo, including the Tiguan family, the group’s largest model line, and future versions of the ID. Golf, ID. Passat and Skoda Enyaq, according to the report.
The magazine called the switch “a fundamental change” in the group’s technology strategy.
Schäfer’s team calculated savings of €4 billion to €5 billion ($4.5 billion to $5.6 billion). An engineering hour at the Rivian joint venture costs about four times as much as one at Volkswagen’s development center in Hefei, and an electric Tiguan developed and built in Europe costs about €8,000 ($8,900) more than it would if developed in China, the magazine said.
The proposal comes under heavy savings pressure. Under targets the supervisory board approved in early September, the Core brand group, which includes Skoda, Seat, Cupra and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, must improve its earnings by more than €12 billion ($13.4 billion) by 2030 compared with current forecasts and cut planned investment by almost €15 billion ($16.7 billion), according to the report.
“For Thomas Schäfer, the decision would be a huge relief,” one person involved told the magazine.
Many in the group expect Stellantis brands, including Opel, to compete with models based on technology from its Chinese partner Leapmotor, and fear that Volkswagen and Skoda could become too slow and too expensive with Rivian software, the report said.
Schäfer no longer plans a new architecture for gasoline and diesel cars at Volkswagen, Skoda and Seat, it added.
Under CEO Oliver Blume’s current plan, technology from the Hefei center serves China and export markets in Latin America, Asia and Australia, while models for Europe and the US use Rivian software. Schäfer wants to move that line for volume models, which would effectively split the group’s software between North America and the rest of the world, the report said.
Schäfer was due to present the plan to the management board on Tuesday. He had pitched it before with the backing of Ralf Brandstätter, the board member for China, and some members found it “eye-opening,” but the board concluded that the group’s software agenda should stay as it was, manager magazin said.
The board initially included strong opponents of the plan, according to the magazine. Some board members argue that adapting CEA to European regulations would not be as easy or cheap as presented, and Audi Chief Executive Officer Gernot Döllner, who helped push the Rivian alliance in 2024, still relies heavily on Rivian’s software outside China, according to the report.
The magazine said Tuesday’s discussion would likely be overshadowed by Audi CEO Gernot Döllner’s appearance with US President Donald Trump to announce Audi’s first US plant, which it said had caused a “medium-sized earthquake” within the group because Döllner ignored a guideline in its own “Booklet of Policies.” Schäfer’s project would be a strategic decision but far less politically sensitive, it said.
No outcome of Tuesday’s meeting has been reported. Rivian shares closed at a 52-week low of $11.43 on Monday after the report.
‘Rumors and speculations’
“Please do not share rumors and speculations without even checking with Rivian,” Bensaid wrote on Wednesday. “The Volkswagen partnership is going incredibly well and the JV roadmap remains unchanged.”
“VW ID1 is on-track to launch next year despite a very aggressive schedule and an innovative architecture with a single zonal computer,” he added. “I have the chance to drive it over the weekend, and it’s incredibly exciting to have such technology content at a low price point.”
Bensaid did not address the board meeting or the cost comparisons in the report.
The ID. 1
The ID. 1 is Volkswagen’s planned entry-level electric car, which manager magazin said would be the first Volkswagen-brand model with a Rivian architecture, at the end of 2027.
Volkswagen previewed it with the ID. EVERY1 concept in March 2025, at a starting price of about €20,000 ($22,300), with production planned for 2027. It is the first model to use the joint venture’s software, TechCrunch reported at the time, citing a person familiar with the model.
Rivian skeptics within Volkswagen warn that the joint venture’s software will not be ready for the group’s full SSP electric vehicle generation until the end of 2028 at the earliest, manager magazin said.
Europe ‘technically feasible’
The debate resurfaced on Wednesday as Volkswagen unveiled VEGA, the package of platforms, electronics and driver-assistance technology it developed in China, and said it would bring the technology to South America by 2030.
Using the China-developed technology in Europe is technically feasible, but the decision rests with headquarters in Germany, which would weigh factors including geopolitics, Frank Han, CEO of Cariad China, told Reuters. Volkswagen has ruled out Europe and North America for now, the news agency reported.
Money at stake
The joint venture, a 50-50 company set up in November 2024, is part of a partnership in which Volkswagen agreed to invest up to $5.8 billion in Rivian and the venture.
Earlier this month, Rivian drew a $1 billion, 10-year loan from Volkswagen at a fixed rate of 6.03%, secured by its half of the venture, leaving $460 million still to come under the partnership.
The final payment depends on the first salable Volkswagen built on the venture’s technology or January 2028, whichever comes first, RivianTrackr reported. Fewer Volkswagen models on Rivian’s platform would mainly weigh on Rivian’s future software and services revenue, the site said.
Audi plans to build its first US plant about 75 miles from Rivian’s new factory in Georgia.
Rivian Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said on October 19 that he expected the relationship with Volkswagen to “continue to expand and grow.”
