Rivian, in a move to improve operational efficiency ahead of its R2 launch next year, has laid off workers within its commercial team, a company spokesperson said in an email to Automotive Dive.
The action affected less than 1.5% of the company’s workforce, the spokesperson said. The electric vehicle maker employed 14,861 people across its North American and European operations, according to a December regulatory filing.
Affected workers were informed Thursday and are eligible for rehire, the spokesperson said. The company did not specify locations of where the job cuts occurred.
The workforce reduction comes as Rivian prepares to ramp up production of its R2 SUV. The EV maker scheduled a three-week shutdown of its Normal, Illinois, plant this month to ready the site to begin building the R2, which will be available next year.
Despite cooling electric vehicle demand and the looming loss of federal EV tax credits, Rivian is moving ahead with plans to scale production with the restart of construction on its $5 billion EV factory in Georgia. The, plant, roughly 45 miles east of Atlanta, is expected to begin production in 2028 with annual capacity of about 200,000 units.
The company is also expanding its Southeast operations with a new East Coast headquarters in Atlanta, which will open later this year.
Rivian, like other automakers, has also faced higher costs due to tariffs. During a Q2 earnings call with analysts last month, CFO Claire Rauh McDonough said tariffs will have a “couple of thousand dollars per unit” impact for the remainder of 2025.
