Rivian laid off hundreds of workers on Tuesday (less than 2% of its workforce), just a week after it began deliveries of its R2 SUV . The electric vehicle maker confirmed that the cuts affected its customer service and support teams , which include sales and marketing , as it struggles to reach profitability, which it has yet to achieve. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the layoffs, and Rivian confirmed them to multiple outlets.
Rivian: Multiple cuts from 2024
It's worth noting that this is at least the fourth round of layoffs Rivian has made since the beginning of 2024.
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“We recently restructured several teams within Rivian as we work to profitably scale our business,” the company said in a statement.
Rivian employed about 15,200 people in North America and Europe at the end of last year. Less than 2% of that base puts the cuts at up to about 300 positions, concentrated in customer-facing roles rather than R2 production.
The move follows the company's roughly 600 layoffs in October 2025 (about 4.5% of its workforce at the time). CEO RJ Scaringesaid at the time that the layoffs were a result of slowing demand for electric vehicles after the federal tax credit expired. At the same time, the company was preparing for the launch of the R2.
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SUV R2
The R2 is the vehicle that Rivian’s entire financial story is based on. It’s the lower-cost, higher-volume SUV that’s meant to transform Rivian from a niche premium player to a major, profitable electric car maker. Cutting service, sales, and marketing staffin the same week that the highest-volume product launches is an unusual move.
Rivian touts it as a way to boost efficiency. But the reality is that the company is under intense pressure to cut losses while growing its most important business. Rivian has accumulated more than $27 billion in losses to date — its accumulated deficit reached $27.0 billion at the end of 2025 — and has never turned a profit.
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The new layoffs underscore the challenges Rivian continues to face in an increasingly competitive electric vehicle market . Despite the intense interest in the new R2, the company is still balancing growth with financial sustainability as it seeks to achieve profitability.
The coming period is expected to prove decisive for the future of Rivian. The success of the R2 will be determined not only by its sales, but also by whether it can reduce losses and strengthen the company's financial figures. For Rivian, the new SUV is not just another model, but perhaps its most significant opportunity to date to establish itself as a sustainable and profitable player in the global electric vehicle market.
