Rivian customers love their vehicles and the brand, helping it achieve a top spot among premium brand owner satisfaction, but that hasn’t saved the automaker from an overall EV market that has grown less enthusiastically than hoped. The company recently announced that it would lay off 10 percent of its workforce, citing slower-than-expected sales and rising interest rates as being significant headwinds.
This round of layoffs will impact mostly salaried employees and a few others for a total of around 1,000 people. It’s the latest in a line of several layoffs the automaker has undertaken since 2022 when it cut six percent of its workforce.
Rivian plans to build 57,000 vehicles this year, which is flat from last year’s totals. CEO RJ Scaringe’s internal message to employees said, “Our business is facing a challenging macroeconomic environment – including historically high interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty – and we need to make purposeful changes now to ensure our promising future.” He also noted that high interest rates had put a dent in the company’s sales.
Despite those challenges, Rivian is on track to reveal its new R2 EV next month. The smaller, less expensive model will be the automaker’s fourth and is expected to be a compact SUV. However, while it’s debuting now, the R2 won’t go into production until late in 2026, which won’t do much to help Rivian’s bottom line this year.
[Image: Rivian]
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