Rivian lays off hundreds of workers days after new vehicle deliveries begin
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Rivian said it’s laying off hundreds of employees, or less than 2% of its workforce, as part of restructuring efforts aimed at making the company profitable for the first time.The layoffs come one week after the Irvine-based electric vehicle maker began deliveries of its highly anticipated R2 SUV.
The company is hoping that the R2, which is currently only available as a performance version for $57,990, could attract more customers with its lower price tag.But industry analysts said the performance R2 is still not affordable for many Americans, and investors reacted with disappointment to the first deliveries June 9, with shares falling 7% that day.
The company said a standard version of the R2 starting at $44,990 will become available next year.The layoffs took effect on Monday and affected Rivian’s service and customer organization employees, including sales and marketing teams.
Rivian employed 15,232 people as of December.“We recently restructured a handful of teams within Rivian as we work to profitably scale our business,” a company spokesperson said.
The laid off employees have been provided with severance packages and are encouraged to apply for other open roles with Rivian, the company said.Business The electric vehicle maker Rivian is adding more than 150 public EV chargers to Caruso properties including the Grove and the Commons at Calabasas.Rivian may be trying to reach profitability by saving money on labor, said Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds.“You have to wonder to what degree they do plan on replacing those people with some level of AI and automation,” he said.
Rivian, which is pouring money into autonomous vehicle efforts including a robotaxi partnership with Uber, has struggled to turn a profit with its luxury EVs.The layoffs are likely not directly tied to recent reception of the R2, auto analyst Brian Moody said.
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