Hungarian billionaire George Soros has bought shares of Rivian Automotive for about USD 2 billion. The American start-up is currently discussing a possible collaboration with VDL Nedcar from Born in Limburg.
With the investment, Soros is one of the most prominent investors in the American automaker. Rivian is 20% owned by Amazon. The start-up will eventually supply around 100,000 electric delivery vans to Amazon. That delivery is still a while off, because the company was not able to produce twelve hundred vehicles last year. Rivian, like many other automakers, suffered from supply chain problems. As a result, for example, fewer parts could be supplied. Despite this, Rivian raised billions in an IPO at the end of last year. Rivian is still in the red, which is not surprising now that it is still in the start-up phase.
Rivian is in talks with VDL Nedcar about the production of cars in Limburg, Limburg deputy Stephan Satijn (VVD) reported in December. According to VDL Nedcar, the collaboration requires a new manufacturing hall, for which a large part of the Sterrebos has to be cut down. In recent weeks, this has led to actions by environmentalists, who chained themselves to trees to stop the felling. The environmental activists have since been removed, but a new problem arose for VDL Nedcar on Friday: a tawny owl with a nest was found in one of the trees. The tawny owl is a protected species, so the tree in question and other trees had to remain standing within a radius of 75 meters. It is not known whether this will cause problems during the construction of the new production hall.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl