The cost-cutting move is aimed at ensuring the company can continue to grow its manufacturing operations without raising additional funds, according to Rivian CEO Robert Scaringe, in an email to the Wall Street Journal. It reported that the company’s sole manufacturing plant in Normal, Illinois, will not be affected by the layoffs.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Rivian’s largest customer and backer, lost $11.5 billion on its Rivian stock investment over the first six months of 2022. That includes $3.9 billion lost on the investment in the second quarter, recorded as a non-operating expense.
The cuts at Rivian follow reports of Xos Trucks cutting 8% of its workforce and layoffs at Canoo, as competition intensifies in the EV market amid signs of a looming recession.
Amazon has started deliveries with Rivian electric delivery vehicles (EDVs), a rollout that “is the start of what Amazon plans to be thousands of EDVs in more than 100 cities by the end of 2022 — and 100,000 EDVs across the U.S. by 2030,” Amazon stated in its second-quarter results.
