Rivian laid off hundreds of workers on Tuesday, targeting its service and customer organization as the electric vehicle maker moves to scale profitably following its R2 SUV launch.
The cuts represent less than 2% of Rivian’s workforce of about 15,200 employees, the company said. The affected staff worked in sales, marketing, and service roles. “We recently restructured a handful of teams within Rivian as we work to profitably scale our business,” the company stated.
The latest layoffs arrive just one week after Rivian officially launched deliveries of its R2 SUV, a lower-cost vehicle aimed at transforming the company from a niche luxury EV maker into a mainstream competitor. Rivian has said it hopes to achieve profitability with the R2, which began shipping in early June.
Rivian has never turned an annual profit. The company lost $3.6 billion last year while delivering 42,247 vehicles, according to company filings. Its automotive segment lost about $6,000 per vehicle in the first quarter of this year, highlighting the cost pressures driving the restructuring.
This marks the third significant workforce reduction in less than a year. In October 2025, Rivian laid off more than 600 workers, or roughly 4.5% of its workforce, citing the need to reduce costs as EV demand softened. Earlier in June 2025, the company cut about 140 employees, roughly 1% of staff, as it prepared for the R2 launch.
The cuts reflect broader challenges facing EV makers. Rivian and competitors are grappling with a more difficult market than in recent years following the elimination of a $7,500 federal tax credit for EV purchases under the Trump administration. That incentive had been a key driver of demand for electric vehicles.
Rivian’s restructuring also mirrors moves by other EV manufacturers seeking to reach profitability. Lucid cut 12% of its workforce in February 2026 as it pushed for profitability amid soft EV demand, while traditional automakers including General Motors and Ford have announced significant cuts of their own.
Sources
- Wall Street Journal — Rivian’s June 16, 2026 layoff affecting hundreds in service and customer organization, company statement on restructuring to scale profitably
- CNBC — Layoff details, workforce size, 2025 financial losses, first-quarter automotive segment loss per vehicle
- Seeking Alpha — Confirmation that cuts affected service and customer organization (sales and marketing)
- Reuters — October 2025 layoff of more than 600 workers (4.5% of workforce)
- TechCrunch — June 2025 layoff of approximately 140 employees; R2 launch context
- The Hill — EV market conditions and federal tax credit elimination
