The substitution of conventional steel components with lighter wood-based components may contribute to the weight reduction of car bodies. However, joining of dissimilar materials is challenging and requires reliable technologies. Even though self-piercing riveting (SPR) has become the standard technology for multi-metal joining in automotive series production, the feasibility of joining metals with wood-based materials has to be proven. Therefore, the present work investigates SPR lap joints of commercial aluminum alloy sheets and cross-laminated wood veneer plates of different thicknesses and configurations. The quality of the joints was assessed based on characteristic cross-section features, and the quasi-static strength of the joints was tested under shear-tensile loading. Dissimilar joining of aluminum alloy sheets with laminated wood veneer plates by SPR is basically feasible, if moderate local cracking of the veneers next to the rivet hole is tolerable. As the deformability of wood fibres is quite poor, the brittle wood plate should be placed on the punch side and the ductile aluminum sheet should be placed on the die side. To prevent excessive compression of the upper wood plate the blankholder force must be adjusted to the particular type of wood. The orientation of the veneer fibres related to the loading direction was identified as crucial with regard to the fracture behavior of the SPR joints.