Rivian Partnership Snags Force Volkswagen to Delay Flagship Models
Those waiting for the next generation of electric Audis, Porsches, or Volkswagens may want to settle in with another cup of coffee. The cars are not arriving anytime soon, as Volkswagen’s grand plan for a unified software platform has stumbled badly, with fingers now pointing squarely at its ambitious partnership with Rivian.
Volkswagen Group is once again mired in a software crisis that is pushing back the launch of several high-profile models. According to multiple reports, at least three flagship EVs are directly affected, including the upcoming Audi Q8 e-tron and A4 e-tron, both of which will see their debuts delayed by at least a year, likely until the end of 2028. Porsche’s luxury SUV project K1, once slated for 2027, is now entirely on ice.
This is not a setback confined to a handful of projects. Insiders suggest the problems are systemic, touching virtually every VW Group brand. The culprit, they say, is the software stack being developed by the newly formed joint venture Rivian and VW Group Technology LLC. That partnership was forged only after Volkswagen’s own Cariad software division collapsed under its own weight and was effectively dismantled.
For Rivian, the agreement was critical. The American EV start-up had staked the launch of its more affordable R2 SUV on debuting the shared software platform. VW, for its part, intended to deploy the same architecture across a broad range of future models, from pure EVs to combustion-powered cars. Yet adapting an American-developed system to the requirements of European-engineered vehicles has proven unexpectedly difficult, particularly for those that are not fully electric.
To complicate matters further, several VW brands reportedly lack full access to Rivian’s development process. The result has been gridlock, infighting, and a rolling calendar of delays. Management is now even weighing the resurrection of Cariad to work in parallel with Rivian, a move that could add as much as €6.5 billion in additional costs.
The first Volkswagen expected to run the new software remains an as-yet-unnamed small EV, inspired by the ID. Every1 concept. Officially, its debut is still scheduled for 2027, but given the current turbulence that date is anything but assured.
Meanwhile, Volkswagen’s China operations appear untroubled by the crisis. There, in partnership with XPeng Motors, the group has adopted a separate CEA platform that is already being lined up for both EVs and hybrids from next year.
The German giant thus finds itself caught between two starkly different realities. In Europe, the clock ticks on a slow and costly software stalemate. In China, progress races ahead under its own rulebook. The crucial question now is whether Volkswagen can eventually merge these parallel worlds into a single coherent strategy. Decisions are promised by October 7. The clock is ticking.
