In an industry quickly pivoting toward all-electric vehicles, automakers like Ford have already warned that those types of automobiles require less labor to produce than ICE-powered ones, which means that job cuts are very likely. In fact, FoMoCo is already mulling reductions in its European workforce, with an official announcement coming later this month. In a growing market, The Blue Oval slashed Ford Mustang Mach-E prices earlier this week, while a company that it has invested heavily in – Rivian – also recently shed some of its executives as it just barely missed its production target in 2022. Now, Rivian will reportedly cut six percent of its workforce as it aims to remain competitive while others are slashing EV prices, according to Reuters.
This news comes from Rivian CEO R.J. Scaringe, who recently sent an email to the company’s employees noting that it’s focusing its resources on ramping up production and driving profitability, which is proving difficult in a weak economy where others – including Ford and Tesla – are lowering EV prices. “We must focus our resources on ramp and our path to profitability,” Scaringe said. “The changes we are announcing today reflect this focused roadmap.”
Rivian will lay off 840 people from its 14,000 employee workforce, though none of those cuts will reportedly affect manufacturing at its production plant in Normal, Illinois. The automaker recently called off plans to partner with Mercedes to build vans in Europe, and is reportedly still losing money on every vehicle it sells at the moment.
Regardless, as of last September, the automaker still had $13.27 billion in cash and cash equivalents thanks to multiple investments from companies including Ford and Amazon. Rivian is set to announce its fourth-quarter results at the end of the month, which will give investors a clearer picture of how its cash flow has changed over that time period.
We’ll have more on Rivian soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Rivian news and continuous Ford news coverage.
Comments
Once again Ford invest in another lame duck.
Ford in Europe are weekly losing loyal long term Ford customers to the competition by slashing car lines, while investing billions in this sort of junk.
LoL Ford invested in Rivian as an insurance policy against developing their own BEV pickup then decided it was better to do that in house.
Ford … your taking part in this failure might be one reason we can’t get the vehicles we need like the Maverick. Again, a Gray, XL w/trailer hitch an bed matt. I need it now, my ’09 Escape is still good, but your competition is working hard to get me in a Dodge.
You know very well Rivian investment has nothing to do with Mav shortages.
Maybe you should just buy that Dodge! Your leaving Ford and entering Dodge may actually increase the averages of both groups.
Ford has invested in making 2 of the ugliest trucks in the market, IMO. This Rivian and Maverick. I have seen both up close and both made me shake my head asking myself, Why? If your going to invest in something new, take a page from Tesla and make it appealing. I am not a fan of any EV, and history is showing that EV’s are not as good as the media would make you believe, but at least Tesla’s are cool looking.
Except people love their Mavericks and are willing to wait an inordinately long time to get theirs.