There have been rumors about a European plant of the US electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian for a long time. While a production facility near Bristol in England was previously the favorite, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs has now confirmed that talks are being held with Rivian about a very specific location in the country.


This is said to be the VDL Nedcar manufacturing plant. Rivian could not only produce its vehicles there, but also take over VDL Nedcar completely. The contract manufacturer is currently building several series for the BMW Group, such as the BMW X1 and three mini derivatives. However, it is already known that the contracts for the Mini Countryman and BMW X1 will not be extended and will therefore expire in 2023 - as is well known, both series are to be built together in the future at the BMW plant in Leipzig, including the BEV version.

The owner of the plant, the VDL Groep - which also includes the bus manufacturer VDL Bus & Coach - would have to find a new customer to keep the 4,500 employees at the plant in the province of Limburg - or sell the plant, which they then Suggest rumors surrounding Rivian. According to various reports, a Rivian delegation plans to visit the Born plant in December.

It fits in with the fact that the eMobility startup Canoo, whose debut model should be built in this Dutch plant from 2022 as reported , now informs the US stock exchange regulator that “due to the developments at VDL Nedcar, they are currently not assuming a to conclude a final framework agreement or agreement for contract manufacturing ”.

On the part of VDL Nedcar, it is said that concrete negotiations are being conducted with two parties. Unless there is another, unknown customer in the running, the Dutch probably assume, unlike Canoo, that the negotiations are still ongoing. Because: The Canoo vehicles should be assembled on a completely new assembly line. Should Rivian VDL not completely take over Nedcar, but only take over the assembly lines previously used by BMW, the production of both US startups would also be conceivable. It is not yet known where Canoo could alternatively locate its production.

At Rivian, however, an alternative is known: The company campus "Gravity" near Bristol. According to reports from August , negotiations have been going on here since the summer - but since it would be a completely new plant, Rivian could not take over an existing and well-rehearsed plant and its employees, as in the Netherlands.

The UK government appears to have recognized the risk and has stepped up its efforts to locate it. As "Sky News" writes, the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is said to have sent a letter to Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe. In it, Johnson apparently promised that government officials had been instructed to work out a "bespoke incentive package". Johnson wants to use a "Special Development Order" (SDO), a very seldom used legal instrument to enable quick planning decisions. The readiness to use the SDO would “reflect the importance of your project for Great Britain”, Johnson is said to have written to Scaringe according to “Sky News”.

However, the report does not reveal what scope and measures the funding package for the US startup could contain. In the summer it was said that Rivian would invest “well over a billion pounds” (equivalent to around 1.17 billion euros) in the site if the decision was positive. It is not known what an investment or takeover would cost in the Netherlands.