Lucid Motors, an electric car maker seen as a potential challenger to Tesla, said Thursday it had delivered just a few hundred cars in the first three months of the year, but insisted it was still on track to deliver by to sell at least 12,000 by the end of the year. end of 2022.
The company, led by a former top Tesla engineer, is considered one of the most promising electric vehicle start-ups. But it disappointed investors in February when it reported that the Arizona plant was having trouble making enough cars to meet demand and slashed its production forecast. Lucid shares have lost two-thirds of their value since its peak in November.
Lucid said it struggled to get the components needed to fulfill the reservations it has received for 30,000 vehicles. “Like many companies in our industry, we continue to face challenges in the global supply chain and logistics, including Covid-related factory closures in China,” Lucid’s chief financial officer Sherry House said in a statement Thursday.
In an interview, Ms. House said the demand for Lucid cars remained strong. Another 5,000 reservations received since February, if they become firm orders, would translate into $500 million in additional sales, she said.
Lucid delivered 360 vehicles in the first quarter, up from 125 in the previous quarter. In April, the company delivered 300 cars, a sign that production is rapidly accelerating, said Peter Rawlinson, who designed the Tesla Model S before founding Lucid, in an interview Thursday. He and Ms House said supply chain problems are easing.
“We really see light at the end of the tunnel now,” Rawlinson said. The company has suffered shortages of some raw materials, he said, but declined to specify which ones.
The company reported a loss of $81 million in the first quarter of 2022 on revenue of $58 million. In the same quarter a year earlier, when the company’s revenue was negligible, Lucid reported a loss of $2.9 billion.
Lucid’s debut product, the $169,000 Lucid Air Dream Edition sedan, was named Car of the Year by MotorTrend magazine, which praised its styling, craftsmanship and range of nearly 520 miles. Lucid and Tesla vehicles dominate the Environmental Protection Agency’s ranking of the most efficient electric cars.
But like many new car companies, Lucid has had difficulties ramping up production. Lucid said Thursday it would increase prices for new reservations starting in June. The most affordable vehicle will cost $87,400 before government incentives, and the most expensive will be $179,000. Tesla and other electric car manufacturers have also increased prices significantly, further pushing the vehicles out of reach for middle-income buyers.
“We are facing extraordinary inflationary pressures, especially for some commodities that affect the price of battery cells,” said Mr Rawlinson. But he also said he was “incredibly optimistic about the future for EV adoption,” due to efficiencies that will lower costs.
With cash reserves of $5.4 billion from investors, including Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, Lucid said, it has enough cash to last well into 2023.
