EV maker Rivian to cut 6% of jobs: internal memo

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Rivian is laying off six per cent of its workforce in an effort to cut costs as the EV maker, already grappling with falling cash reserves and a weak economy, braces for an industry-wide price war. The company is focusing resources on ramping up vehicle production and reaching profitability, Chief Executive R.J. Scaringe said in an email to employees on Wednesday announcing the job cuts. Reuters obtained a copy of the email.

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Layoffs at Rivian come amid falling EV prices kicked off by cuts made recently by Elon Musk-led Tesla and Ford. The price cuts by Tesla and Ford are expected to hurt EV upstarts such as Rivian, Lucid, and British startup Arrival, which Monday said it would lay off half its staff.

“We must focus our resources on ramp and our path to profitability,” Scaringe said in the email, in which he apologized to employees for the necessity of the cuts. A Rivian spokesman confirmed the email was sent, but declined further comment.

Irvine, California-based Rivian, which has about 14,000 employees, will let go of about 840 staff in a move that will not affect manufacturing operations at its plant in Normal, Illinois.

Rivian, which has been losing money on every vehicle it builds, narrowly missed its full-year production target of 25,000 vehicles last year as it dealt with supply-chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It had previously halved that target. To further conserve its cash, Rivian late last year shelved plans to build delivery vans in Europe with Mercedes. Rivian had earlier pushed back by a year to 2026 the planned launch of a smaller R2 vehicle family at the US$5-billion plant it is building in Georgia.