Key facts
- Rivian laid off hundreds of employees on Tuesday.
- The layoffs are intended to boost efficiency and profitability.
- The cuts affect less than 2% of the company's workforce.
- The affected teams include service and customer-facing roles like sales and marketing.
- The layoffs coincide with the start of deliveries for the new R2 SUV.
Rivian has laid off hundreds of workers, a move affecting less than 2% of its overall workforce, as the electric vehicle manufacturer seeks to boost efficiency and scale its business profitably. The company stated the cuts impact service and customer teams, including sales and marketing. This is at least the fourth round of layoffs for Rivian since the start of 2024. The news comes just one week after the company began deliveries of its highly anticipated R2 SUV. Rivian had previously aimed to turn its first profit in 2027 but pushed back this goal in March due to significant spending on autonomous vehicle technology development. This delay was announced alongside news that Uber plans to invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian and purchase as many as 50,000 R2 SUVs for use as robotaxis.