- Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson worked for Tesla CEO Elon Musk from 2009 to 2012.
- Rawlinson said the biggest lesson he learned from Musk is the importance of relentless optimism.
- “Sometimes you have to put all your chips in,” Rawlinson said.
- Are you a current or former Lucid employee? Do you have an opinion about what it’s like to work there? Contact this reporter at mmatousek@businessinsider.com, on Signal at 646-768-4712, or via his encrypted email address mmatousek@protonmail.com.
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Peter Rawlinson worked for Tesla CEO Elon Musk from 2009-2012 as he led the development of the electric-car maker’s groundbreaking Model S sedan. Now the chief executive of the electric-vehicle startup Lucid Motors, Rawlinson learned from Musk the importance of relentless optimism.
“I really believe that success can beget success,” Rawlinson said in an interview with Business Insider. “It can be a self-fulfilling prophecy if you’re really committed and you’re all in, and everyone at Lucid knows I am. And that’s the leadership I hope I provide.”
If you focus too much on what might go wrong, it can decrease your odds of achieving your goals, he added.
“Sometimes you have to put all your chips in,” he said.
Musk, Rawlinson said, demonstrated his commitment to success “on an hour-by-hour basis.” Rawlinson has taken that attitude to Lucid, which he joined in 2013 (he became the company’s CEO in 2019). His confidence in the company and its debut vehicle, the Air luxury sedan, is driven by Lucid’s in-house engineering and design efforts. According to the company, the Air will be able to drive over 400 miles between charges and accelerate from 0-60 mph in under 2.5 seconds. Those specs would make the Air competitive with the Model S, which, depending on the trim, has a maximum range of 402 miles and a 2.3-second 0-60 mph time.
“We’re creating a car which is going to be the best car in the world,” Rawlinson said. “People are going to want it.”
Lucid will unveil the production version of the Air in September before beginning production next year. The vehicle’s price will start “well north” of $100,000, Rawlinson said.
Are you a current or former Lucid employee? Do you have an opinion about what it’s like to work there? Contact this reporter at mmatousek@businessinsider.com, on Signal at 646-768-4712, or via his encrypted email address mmatousek@protonmail.com.