Rivian is laying off 10% of its salaried workforce, the EV startup announced on Wednesday as it reported fourth-quarter and full-year earnings. It’s the company’s second round of layoffs in the past year.
The news comes amid a broader slowdown in the EV industry. Rivian has yet to turn a profit on its vehicles and is under pricing pressure from industry leader Tesla. The company said it is in the midst of a “company-wide cost-transformation program.”
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Rivian ramps up
California-based Rivian is one of the most promising EV startups around, but it’s far from profitable. This year it’s facing layoffs and flat sales growth.
“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,” Rivian founder and CEO R.J. Scaringe said in an email to staff on Wednesday. “We must strategically prioritize our growth areas of the business, including the launch of Peregrine and R2 as well as investing in our go-to-market capabilities.”
The move also comes around a time when numerous tech companies, including Google and Amazon, are enacting layoffs as well.
The R2 is Rivian’s upcoming compact SUV that the company hopes will drive more sales than its current crop of large, expensive vehicles. Peregrine is the internal name for the firm’s next-generation EV architecture.
Rivian reported its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings on Wednesday, saying that it plans to produce 57,000 vehicles in 2024, roughly the same number as it manufactured in 2023.
Wall Street, evidently, isn’t happy with the lack of growth envisioned for this year. Rivian’s share price plummeted roughly 14% in after-hours trading.
Contact the author: tim.levin@insideevs.com
