Lucid Motors, a Silicon Valley-based electric vehicle start-up backed by China’s LeEco, Tsing Capital and other investors, plans to reveal a production version of an electric sedan in the U.S. today.
The company is accepting orders for the sedan and is slated to begin assembly in late 2018. Lucid will offer its sedan first in the U.S., followed by China and Europe.
China’s LeEco, Tsing Capital, Japan’s Mitsui & Co., Ltd., U.S. venture firm Venrock and other investors injected over US$200 million into the car start-up.
Lucid is aiming to sell 8,000 to 10,000 vehicles in the first full year of production, ramping up to about 50,000 annually within three years. The company is also planning to build a US$700 million factory in Arizona in the U.S.
LeEco is also a key backer of U.S. electric vehicle start-up Faraday Future, which has encountered short-term funding difficulties as LeEco is scaling back its operations to satisfy capital expenditure needs.
Karma Automotive, an electric car start-up owned by China’s Wanxiang Group, is expected to release a new car in the next few months.
Tencent-backed NextEV and Chehejia are also building their own electric vehicles, targeting the global and Chinese market.
