Read Rivian CEO’s Email About Layoffs

Rivian plans to cut more than 600 roles, according to an internal memo shared with the company on Thursday that was viewed by Business Insider.

The electric vehicle maker’s decision to lay off around 4.5% of its workforce of 15,000 comes as administrative changes loom over the EV industry.

The reduction is one of several rounds of layoffs that Rivian has conducted over the past three years.

Although EV sales in the US hit a record high in the third quarter of 2025, EV makers are facing the Trump Administration’s elimination of a $7,500 federal tax credit. Americans had until September 30 to capitalize on the tax credit before the blow hit the EV industry, affecting companies like Tesla and Rivian.

The layoffs, which were first reported by The Wall Street Journal, come as Rivian prepares to launch the R2, which is poised to be the EV maker’s cheapest SUV release to date with a target price of $45,000.

In an interview with Business Insider on Wednesday at the unveiling of Rivian’s e-bike spinoff, ALSO, CEO RJ Scaringe said the R2 is a critical moment for the company.

“I’d call it an inflection point for us to become a company of the scale we aspire to be, which is producing many millions of cars a year,” he said.

Rivian has yet to reach the same level of scale as its leading US contender, Tesla — but the company has shown potential for growth.

Earlier this month, Rivian reported 13,200 vehicle deliveries, a 32% year-over-year increase. Still, the company narrowed its 2025 delivery guidance to 41,500-43,500 vehicles, amid the end of the tax credit incentives and as it prepares for R2 production.

Read the memo Scaringe sent out to employees below:

Hi Team,

I am writing to share a difficult update.

With the launch of R2 in front of us and the need to profitably scale our business, we have made the very difficult decision to make a number of structural adjustments to our teams. These changes result in a reduction in the size of our team by roughly 4.5%.

These are not changes that were made lightly. With the changing operating backdrop, we had to rethink how we are scaling our go-to-market functions. This news is challenging to hear, and the hard work and contributions of the team members who are leaving are greatly appreciated.

To ensure we move forward with clarity, I want to summarize the areas most impacted.

• Streamlining the Customer Journey: To provide a seamless experience for our customers, we are integrating the Vehicle Operations workstreams into the Service organization to create fewer customer handoffs and clearer ownership. We are also integrating the Delivery and Mobile Operations into the Sales organization to ensure the purchase experience is as seamless as possible with a single touchpoint throughout the entire sales process and to delivery.
• Elevating Our Marketing Efforts: Historically we have had multiple functions that collectively capture what would typically be housed in a single marketing organization. We have made the decision to form a single marketing organization, and while we recruit our first Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), I will be acting as Interim CMO. Our Marketing Experiences team, led by Denise Cherry, and the Creative Studio team, led by Matt Soldan, will both report directly to me for now.

These changes are being made to ensure we can deliver on our potential by scaling efficiently towards building a healthy and profitable business. I am incredibly confident in R2 and the hard work of our teams to deliver and ramp this incredible product.

Thanks again everyone.

RJ