Lucid forecast production this year at between 10,000 and 14,000 cars as part of its February earnings report. Last year, it made 7,180. Lucid will announce first-quarter earnings May 8.
The Newark, Calif.-based automaker launched the Air in late 2021 out of a new Arizona factory and quickly amassed tens of thousands of preorders — so many that Lucid struggled to build enough cars amid parts shortages. Lucid said it now has the opposite problem: not enough orders to keep its factory running at capacity.
Rival EV maker Tesla has not done Lucid any favors by cutting the price of its Model S sedan that competes directly with the Air. The Model S starts at $89,130 with shipping, down from $106,190 last year with shipping.
Lucid said in February that its order backlog for the Air sedan had fallen to 28,000 from 34,000 late last year.
The automaker reported first-quarter production of 2,314 and deliveries of 1,406. That was lower than production in the previous quarter of 3,493 and deliveries of 1,932. In March, Lucid announced an 18 percent cut to its work force, or about 1,300 employees.
The EV maker is majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and is building a factory in that country to serve the Middle East. Lucid is also expanding to Europe with new retail locations.
“My focus is on sales,” Rawlinson said on the earnings call in February. “And here’s the thing: We’ve got what I believe to be the very best product in the world and just too few people aware of not just the car but the company.”
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