Rivian laying off hundreds of workers amid R2 launch

Rivian electric vehicles are parked in front of a Rivian service center on April 30, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images Rivian said Tuesday it was laying off hundreds of workers, or less than 2% of its workforce, as the EV maker aims to narrow losses. The layoffs affect some teams in the service and customer segments, according to a spokesperson. The company had 15,232 employees across North America and Europe at the end of last year. "We recently restructured a handful of teams within Rivian as we work to profitably scale our business," the company said in a statement. The layoffs come a week after the automaker officially launched deliveries of its key new vehicle, the R2 SUV . The R2 is meant to transform Rivian from a niche EV manufacturer that sells luxury vehicles into a more mainstream brand like U.S. EV leader Tesla . Rivian has said it hopes to achieve profitability with the R2. It has never turned an annual profit. The EV maker lost $3.6 billion last year, while only delivering 42,247 vehicles, according to company filings. Its automotive segment lost about $6,000 per vehicle it delivered during the first quarter of this year. Rivian and other EV manufacturers are increasingly facing a more challenging market than they did in recent years amid changing regulations under the Trump administration, including the elimination of a $7,500 federal incentive for purchasing an EV. …