“We have the best car in the world. Now we have to get production going.” When Peter Rawlinson opened Europe’s first Lucid store in Munich in May, he was still optimistic that he wouldn’t end up in “production hell”. After presenting the half-year figures of the electric car manufacturer, it is clear: Lucid Motors is deeper in it than ever.
In the spring, Rawlinson had already revised the production target for his model Air down from 20,000 to 12,000 to 14,000 units this year. Now the next bad news followed: the start-up only dares to produce 6000 to 7000 cars in the whole of 2022. In the first half of the year, just 1405 models rolled off the assembly line. The number of deliveries also remains more than manageable: in the second quarter there were 679.
Rawlinson said he had to revise his plans because of “extraordinary supply chain and logistics challenges”. The “most important bottlenecks” have now been identified and appropriate adjustments are being made in the organization. For example, the carmaker hopes to make progress by locating its logistics center directly at the only plant in Arizona to date.
Lucid also clearly missed its sales targets: Instead of the expected 147 million dollars, the manufacturer only earned a good 97 million dollars. The loss was $414 million. The exchange punished Lucid immediately after the numbers were released share
fell by 13 percent in the meantime. In the current year, the Lucid price has fallen by around 55 percent to date.
37,000 orders have been received
Rawlinson’s attempts to emphasize supposedly positive aspects in the balance sheet fell flat. Lucid has more than 37,000 orders for the Air, valued at $3.5 billion. As long as the company, based in Newark, California, does not ramp up production, this remains a theoretical sales potential.
There is no financial shortage at Lucid Motors, the financing is currently secured “well into 2023”, promised CFO Sherry House. It currently has cash reserves of $4.6 billion. In addition, Lucid has extremely potent investors. The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia holds a good 60 percent of the company.
CEO Rawlinson wants to attack premium and luxury manufacturers in particular with Lucid. He chose the Mercedes EQS as the main opponent for the Lucid Air. The American model regularly comes off well in test reports, long ranges and crazy acceleration values impress many in the scene. But that also has its price: In Germany, Lucid has so far only accepted orders for the “Dream Edition” of its only vehicle. Cost point: 218,000 euros.
In addition to the previously little productive plant in Arizona, ex-Tesla top engineer Rawlinson also wants to build one in Saudi Arabia. It is not known when this will start. According to the boss, 150,000 cars are to be built in the country’s first automobile plant by 2026. By 2030, Rawlinson plans to produce one million units a year. The dreams are big, so are the difficulties. The Welshman Rawlinson apparently still does not believe himself in the “production hell” that his ex-boss Elon Musk once established as a term: “I am still confident that we will master these short-term challenges.”