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Volkswagen invests up to $5B in Rivian

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Re: Volkswagen invests up to $5B in Rivian

#11

Post by constantcrying »

neals wrote: post #9
constantcrying wrote: post #5

I 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.

VW 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.

>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.

Re: Volkswagen invests up to $5B in Rivian

#12

Post by constantcrying »

peutetre wrote: post #10
constantcrying wrote: post #5

I 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.

Maybe eventually they'll make Rivian a Volkswagen brand. They own many auto brands. As part of the joint venture with Rimac they gave Rimac the Bugatti brand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugatti_Rimac

>Maybe eventually they'll make Rivian a Volkswagen brand.

That seems counter productive though, they seem to want Rivian tech. Usually their brands are managed centrally, so VW is developing platforms and architectures, which are then used by Skoda, Seat and Audio to make their models.

Re: Volkswagen invests up to $5B in Rivian

#14

Post by [deleted] »

sgt wrote: post #7
echelon wrote: post #3

Rivians 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.

I 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]

Re: Volkswagen invests up to $5B in Rivian

#15

Post by Qwertious »

constantcrying wrote: post #12
peutetre wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe eventually they'll make Rivian a Volkswagen brand. They own many auto brands. As part of the joint venture with Rimac they gave Rimac the Bugatti brand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugatti_Rimac

>Maybe eventually they'll make Rivian a Volkswagen brand. That seems counter productive though, they seem to want Rivian tech. Usually their brands are managed centrally, so VW is developing platforms and architectures, which are then used by Skoda, Seat and Audio to make their models.

>which are then used by Skoda, Seat and Audio to make their models.

Autocorrect strikes again!

Re: Volkswagen invests up to $5B in Rivian

#16

Post by k8sToGo »

neals wrote: post #9
constantcrying wrote: post #5

I 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.

VW 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.

One of the reasons they replaced the CEO, thankfully.

Re: Volkswagen invests up to $5B in Rivian

#17

Post by dacryn »

constantcrying wrote: post #11
neals wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

VW 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.

>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.

because 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

Re: Volkswagen invests up to $5B in Rivian

#18

Post by skapa_flow »

constantcrying wrote: post #12
peutetre wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe eventually they'll make Rivian a Volkswagen brand. They own many auto brands. As part of the joint venture with Rimac they gave Rimac the Bugatti brand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugatti_Rimac

>Maybe eventually they'll make Rivian a Volkswagen brand. That seems counter productive though, they seem to want Rivian tech. Usually their brands are managed centrally, so VW is developing platforms and architectures, which are then used by Skoda, Seat and Audio to make their models.

VW decided to decentralize development, especially software. This is true for the Chinese market, which is very important to VW. Germans like knobs, Chinese like playfull interfaces with gadgets.

Re: Volkswagen invests up to $5B in Rivian

#19

Post by constantcrying »

skapa_flow wrote: post #18
constantcrying wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Maybe eventually they'll make Rivian a Volkswagen brand. That seems counter productive though, they seem to want Rivian tech. Usually their brands are managed centrally, so VW is developing platforms and architectures, which are then used by Skoda, Seat and Audio to make their models.

VW decided to decentralize development, especially software. This is true for the Chinese market, which is very important to VW. Germans like knobs, Chinese like playfull interfaces with gadgets.

>This is true for the Chinese market

Yes, that is true. Maybe they want to do something similar in the US? Where they have some subsidiary doing largely independent development for more region specific models?

Re: Volkswagen invests up to $5B in Rivian

#20

Post by MrBuddyCasino »

constantcrying wrote: post #11
neals wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

VW 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.

>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.

> 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.

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