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One of Amazons new electric delivery vans from Rivian gets ready to leave the Amazon Distribution Facility on Cyber Monday on November 28, 2022 in Aurora, Colorado.
Rj Sangosti | Denver Post | Getty Images
Rivian wants out of its exclusive agreement with Amazon for the EV maker’s electric delivery trucks, a company spokeswoman said Monday.
Rivian and Amazon struck a deal in 2019 to hand over 100,000 electric trucks to the e-commerce giant. Amazon began delivering packages with the vehicles in July, and Rivian last month touted 10 million packages delivered via the vans.
But Amazon, Rivian’s largest shareholder, has since underwhelmed with its order numbers, telling Rivian it wanted to buy about 10,000 vehicles this year — the low end of a previously stated range.
“Our relationship with Amazon has always been a positive one—we continue to work closely together, and are navigating a changing economic climate, similar to many companies,” Rivian spokeswoman Marina Norville said in a statement.
Representatives for Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the discussions to end exclusivity.
Eliminating the exclusivity piece of the agreement would allow Rivian to court new customers as it works to ramp production of the vans and its R1 series pickup and SUV. The company is also working on a forthcoming R2 model and is in need of cash.
Last week, Rivian announced plans to raise $1.3 billion via a sale of convertible notes to help fund R2 development and launch.
Shares of Rivian fell about 3% in premarket trading Monday.
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