Rivian Lays Off Hundreds One Week After R2 Deliveries Begin

Rivian has laid off hundreds of workers, representing less than 2% of its workforce, as the EV maker seeks to narrow losses and scale profitably.

Rivian restructures service and customer teams. The cuts, which took place on Tuesday, affect some teams in the service and customer segments, including sales and marketing. A spokesperson confirmed that those affected may apply for other open positions at the company.

The company had about 15,200 employees at the end of last year. Rivian said in a statement that it recently restructured a handful of teams as it works to profitably scale its business.

The layoffs follow the R2 SUV launch by one week. Rivian started deliveries of its more affordable R2 SUV seven days before the job cuts. The model is intended to shift the company from a niche luxury EV maker toward a mainstream brand.

Rivian hopes the R2 will help it achieve profitability. The company has never posted an annual profit.

Rivian reports steep losses on low vehicle volumes. The EV maker lost $3.6 billion last year while delivering 42,247 vehicles. Its automotive segment lost about $6,000 per vehicle delivered in the first quarter of this year, according to company filings.

Multiple layoff rounds have occurred in the past year. Rivian laid off more than 600 workers in October, roughly 4.5% of its workforce at the time. Those earlier cuts mainly targeted marketing, vehicle operations, sales, delivery and mobile operations teams.

The latest reductions come as Rivian and other EV manufacturers face a more challenging market. This includes changing regulations under the Trump administration, such as the elimination of a $7,500 federal incentive for purchasing an EV. The company continues to ramp up R2 production, which it views as critical to its path to profitability.