UK electric van start-up Arrival has warned it might have to lay off almost 800 employees as part of a cash-saving exercise to enable it to fulfil its plan to start production in autumn this year.
The company has proposed a reorganisation of its business “in response to the challenging economic environment”, it said in a statement to investors. The reorganisation “could potentially impact up to 30% of employees globally”, it added.
Arrival employs 2600 globally, the company said in April, meaning that 780 could be made redundant if the company goes ahead with the proposed 30% cut in numbers. The majority of Arrival’s employees work in the UK. Around 70% of Arrival’s workforce are engineers, it has said.
Arrival said the proposed job cuts would be part of a 30% slash in spending to allow it to eke out the $500 million (£420m) cash it has remaining until late 2023.
