Rivian asserts that a pricing disagreement with a seat provider threatens the Amazon van plan.

Rivian filed a complaint against Commercial Vehicle Group, stating that the supplier breached a contract and roughly increased the price of a special seat package for the electric vans it is making for Amazon and maybe other commercial customers.

The WSJ was the first to reveal the complaint, which was filed in Wayne County Court in Michigan on March 9. In a court filing, Commercial Vehicle Group asserts that it is not contractually bound to the initial agreed-upon price.

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Rivian cautioned in the complaint that if the disagreement is not resolved, it may be forced to discontinue the commercial van programme, resulting in immediate and irreparable loss to the company and its other suppliers.

Rivian shares fell 7% on Monday following the announcement of the case.

Consumers can purchase the R1T electric pickup truck and the R1S SUV from Rivian. It also has an agreement with Amazon, which owns roughly 18% of Rivian, to deliver 100,000 electric vans to the e-commerce giant by 2030.In 2023, 

Rivian also intends to sell its electric delivery trucks to additional business customers.

Rivian argues in its original complaint that production of the Amazon-Rivian Prime Van, or RPV, would be delayed if a new supplier had to be sought for the special package, which comprises the seat, surrounding trim, and jump seat. 

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Rivian stated that the seat package contains "safety-critical" components that require well over a year of testing before they can be validated for production vehicles.

A spokeswoman for Rivian stated that CVG has continued to provide seats to Rivian, and the parties are currently discussing a resolution.

In its case, Rivian asserts that Commercial Vehicle Group supplied the company with seat bundles at the agreed-upon cost. In February, Rivian claims CVG "kept its supply hostage and threatened to cease distribution of all seat packages to Rivian" unless the automaker agreed to pay around double the amount.

To prevent a supply interruption, Rivian issued orders "under protest" for seat packages at the higher price. Nonetheless, according to the complaint, CVG has refused to honour these spot purchase orders until Rivian releases CVG from any breach of contract claims.

According to the court, a hearing on the motion is set for May 17.

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