Rivian lays off 150 sales and service teams (9/4/25)

[mkg3]

Rivian stock is neutral on the news. Big dip yesterday in light of news. Buying at a discount today.

Rivian stock is a bouncer between $11 and $14. Until R2 succeeds or fails. Been my thesis for a long time.

Am aware. The news hit after the market closed yesterday. Recent price action has had $RIVN down a bit so it's bouncing. It needs bit of news to bound more than couple of percentage.

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[mkg3]

Yeah true 3 row EVs are hard to come by. The R1S is the best 3 row option IMO. And no Elon, the X and Y are not SUVs with legitimate 3 rows

I've spend bit of time looking at the Gravity interior at Lucid showroom and the 3rd row is an option. It fold into the back floor or the vehicle (where the spare tire would be in R1S). When deployed, the 3rd row legroom is worse than X. When folded, it does have fully flat floor though.

The vehicle is essentially the size of Air and just imagine the trunk space as the potential 3rd row with very small cargo area behind it.

 

[MidnightRivian]

Well they are opening up a big, brand new SC here in Charlotte and anecdotally I see more Rivians on the road here with each passing month. It's not all doom and gloom just coz they laid off some folks who I'm guessing were not in mission critical roles. I could be wrong.

Also, anyone else getting badgered by sales to trade in their Gen1 R1?

Same here in DFW. We are getting another service center to support the R2 rollout.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Economic and trade policies. Not the first lay off. Nor will it be the last. SSDD. Plus, a insider told me this round is among the Commercial group; i.e. fleet sales. Given said economic/trade policies, not difficult to imagine why no potential fleet buyer would be keen to spend $ to expand or replace fleet during uncertain times.

 

[SASSquatch]

The R2 can start in Normal alongside the R1 and EDV. But that leaves nothing left in mfg capacity to do R3/X. If it be isn’t obvious, each new model has a lower price point and much higher run rate need. Normal is just not scalable beyond EDV, R1 and yr1 of R2. Expecting R2 RHD out of Stanton Springs being so close to ports.

I'm a deeply selfish person when it comes to R3/X. That is what I am looking forward to (I have an R2 on reserve but really it is my placeholder for the R3/X). So from that perspective, I definitely want to see the Georgia facility happen because that realistically is the only chance to see R3/X

I think you are right that they need the capacity that the Georgia plant would provide but expanding at this stage carries enormous risk given economic conditions and uncertain demand for R2.

They are STILL not net-profitable on R1 (any generation) and they have lost their regulatory credits. They are burning through cash like it grows on trees. It's not a good situation and to be expending significant capital on Georgia right now is extremely risky. I sincerely hope them moving forward means that the have confidence in their balance sheets and/or a safety net from VW that they can get through the next few years and not have to fold up shop.

In terms of Rivian being acquired outright by VW, I think it is too early for that but I think VW is the most likely acquisition partner. There is going to have to be consolidation in the automotive industry to survive the economic downturn we are heading for and the intense competition in the EV space from the chinese.

 

[SeaGeo]

"service staff" could mean anything, and likely isn't the people working at the service centers.

I gotta believe they realize the one major drawback to buying a Rivian right now is the service wait times. And even if there were actual employees at service centers included in this, they likely wouldn't be ones that adversely affected operations.

My understanding is it included a service manager who had gained a lot of brand loyalty from customers and at least one service tech who worked on consumer vehicles.


So yes, it likely impacts customer service operations.

Edit: Additionally they let go of 7 techs, service advisors, or service managers from the Seattle location, including their senior tech and HV specialist.


I'm going to be honest, I ordered a tri this weekend. If this had happened last week, I would not have ordered that vehicle and am now concerned about getting it serviced.

 

[Wilber]

So who dies first- lucid or Rivian?

The competition is on

I suspect Lucid goes bust first. they dont seem to know how to manufacture vehicles - hence the 6 MONTHS DELAY in getting Gravity to customers. And the Saudis arent dumb. they may stop supporting the US production of Lucids and keep the production that is already mostly operational in Saudi Arabia. As for Rivian, I think they will survive. BUT the R3 may need to be indefinitely postponed if the economy turns into a depression, not just a recession. That seems fairly likely based on the tariff mess, and because Donnie gets takes his orders from his boss, Putin. It is very much in Putin's interest to destroy the US economy.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

I suspect Lucid goes bust first. they dont seem to know how to manufacture vehicles - hence the 6 MONTHS DELAY in getting Gravity to customers. And the Saudis arent dumb. they may stop supporting the US production of Lucids and keep the production that is already mostly operational in Saudi Arabia. As for Rivian, I think they will survive. BUT the R3 may need to be indefinitely postponed if the economy turns into a depression, not just a recession. That seems fairly likely based on the tariff mess, and because Donnie gets takes his orders from his boss, Putin. It is very much in Putin's interest to destroy the US economy.

Lucid will not go bust. It is buoyed by PIF, the Saudi sovereign investment fund—a stake of just over 64% of the company according to SEC filings. The same govt. that ordered and carried out a grizzly assassination on US soil on October 2, 2018. Lucid will go bust only when the Saudis decide they no longer need to green-wash and hedge against decline of demand for oil.

 

[VandalSibs]

I'm going to be honest, I ordered a tri this weekend. If this had happened last week, I would not have ordered that vehicle and am now concerned about getting it serviced.

I do feel for those people that lost their jobs, but you do have access to four other service centers in that area. You should be just fine if your new vehicle needs any work.

 

[101mph]

Anyone care to speculate on what happens to the stock price if VW (or anyone else) acquires Rivian?

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Anyone care to speculate on what happens to the stock price if VW (or anyone else) acquires Rivian?

No. Moot speculation. And VW would only need to take/keep their half of the joint venture. They don't need the rest of Rivian.

 

[NY_Rob]

Whenever I see an Ocean driving it always makes me feel bad for the owner. Oof.

I don't feel bad for them, they happily ignored repeated warnings regarding how sketchy things were at Fisker from the getgo. Many gleefully posted "as long as I get my car I don't care what happens". Well, they got their cars...

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

I don't feel bad for them, they happily ignored repeated warnings regarding how sketchy things were at Fisker from the getgo. Many gleefully posted "as long as I get my car I don't care what happens". Well, they got their cars...

And they were lucky Chase settled to buy back.

 

[mkg3]

Anyone care to speculate on what happens to the stock price if VW (or anyone else) acquires Rivian?

VWG currently owns 12.3% based on two trenches of investments. If they follow through with the rest of the stated investments, at the current share price, they probably will own close to 30% and probably be the majority owner.

If VWG did take over Rivian, in some form, most likely outcome is for VWG to merge Rivian with Scout and use the existing showrooms and service centers, and most importantly use the direct sales access the they are fighting VE dealers over.

Since they are inching closer to having significant influence and perhaps control, there is little incentive to buy out Rivian.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Didn’t they get a government loan for the Georgia plant? Not that they won’t need to repay it one day but it’s on a different timeline than spending cash on hand.

They haven't withdrawn any of the money from the DoE loan yet. It's staggered based on hitting certain goals in production schedule timeline. Iirc they don't need to take their first draw until 2028. Still TBD what happens when they actually try. The administration may claw it back, just like they did all those recent solar & wind power energy projects, etc.

I believe they've already got their money from Georgia, although the legal fight with the "NIMBY's" is not quite over there yet, either.

Jobs report is not looking good today. And most reasonable speculation is that a lot of the jobs that are posted are just fake/scams/bots/AI. But I know a guy with a sharpie who still says the economy is going bigly.

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