EV builder slowly puts start-up problems behind him
Lucid’s electric SUV, which will most likely be called Gravity, will be available to order from early next year. In addition, the CEO of the brand reports that it will announce more next week about its upcoming SUV, which is still under the name ‘Project Gravity SUV’. Meanwhile, Lucid is making rapid strides as a starting car manufacturer, albeit with growing pains.
Due to previous research in the patent databases, we were able to show you what Lucid’s second model, the Gravity, will look like in March 2021. Now we know when the SUV of the brand can be ordered: from the beginning of 2023. Production of the Gravity should start in the course of 2024. The expectation is that the first copies will go to the home market of the American brand, before deliveries start elsewhere. We are not yet entirely sure whether the SUV, like the Air, will come to Europe.
Let’s first see how the new-fangled manufacturer Lucid manages to cope with the start-up problems. Initially, the brand wanted to produce 20,000 cars by 2022, but due to, among other things, delivery problems for parts, Lucid had to adjust that target significantly downwards. There is now an increasing line in the production numbers, so that the Americans now hope to get to 7,000 copies this year. Last quarter (Q3 2022), they delivered 1,398 Lucids Air, for a turnover of $196 million.
Hundreds of millions loss
In contrast, the brand recorded a net loss of $670 million in the same period. Nevertheless, there is reason for positivity: the turnover of the brand in Q4 of 2021 was still $232,000. That money probably came from the Air, because its production only started at the end of last year.
Lucid Air
It has started almost a year later, but not nearly as well as previously planned. However, there remains an upward trend: Lucid produced 2,282 cars in Q3 2022, much more than in Q1 or Q2. In addition, the brand expects to produce and deliver sufficient cars in Q4 to achieve the adjusted production target of 7,000 units over the whole of 2022. To illustrate, Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson told Automotive News that the brand produced three times more cars in Q3 and twice more than in Q2.
There’s work to be done
Still, Lucid still has a lot of work to catch up on. It has 34,000 reservations for the Air, and reservations for the Gravity will be added soon. Plus, at an event next week, Lucid will not only be releasing more about the Gravity, but will also be showcasing the new Air Loafers. These will be significantly cheaper than the currently available versions and are expected to further increase demand.
CEO Rawlinson likes it. Last quarter, he said, his company proved for the first time that it is capable of building more than 300 cars per week. If the company manages to break free from the start-up problems he mentioned and the parts supply is not too bad, then the production numbers for Q4 of 2022 will be even more rosy. Not to mention 2023, when the brand will build the slip-on Air. We’re going to experience it.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl