After once predicting that it would ship 90,000 electric vehicles in 2024, Lucid Motors will only build 9,000 EVs in that year

Lucid Motors, which is having trouble meeting demand for its premium sedans, only intends to build 9,000 electric cars in 2024-500-1,000 more than it did in 2023. If Lucid maintains its current pace, it will have constructed about 10% of the 90,000 electric vehicles it estimated it could produce and market in 2024 when it went public three years ago.

The difference between the current numbers and those originally projected highlights the amount of freedom had by firms like as Lucid in campaigning for the reverse mergers that enabled numerous companies to go public. It also represents the harsh truth Lucid currently has to deal with: the company is still having trouble finding customers and is losing money on each electric vehicle it produces.

Along with revealing its financial results for the previous year, Lucid revealed its 2024 production targets on Wednesday. The company said that it lost $2.8 billion in 2023. The low prediction was made just days after the company cut the price of its Air car by eight thousand dollars.

For the most part of the past year, CEO Peter Rawlinson has been stressing the need for his company to increase sales and marketing campaigns, citing the upcoming Gravity SUV as a potential catalyst. One of the reasons Lucid initially predicted being able to produce and ship 90,000 vehicles in a matter of years is the Gravity. In fact, the Gravity was expected to outsell the Air sedan in 2024 according to a Lucid presentation used to advertise its 2021 merger with a special purpose acquisition firm.

In reality, however, Lucid had to postpone the Gravity launch in 2022 due to a number of supply chain and production issues that emerged in the early stages of the Air. The SUV was ultimately unveiled by the firm in November 2023, and it is expected that production would begin by the end of this year.

Lucid’s immediate future is highly affected by the Gravity; in fact, the business disclosed this week that Rawlinson received a $6 million financial bonus for unveiling the SUV. In order to compete Tesla’s Model Y, Lucid is developing a mid-size platform, but it won’t be available until at least late 2026.

There are additional factors that could help the company grow. With the recent price reductions, the rear-wheel drive version of its entry model Air Pure, which was only recently introduced, is now available for less than $70,000. According to Rawlinson, Lucid encountered technical difficulties during the initial stages of Air Pure production, but they have since fully ramped up.

Last year, Lucid also declared that it was selling Aston Martin some of its electric vehicle technology. During a call on Wednesday, Rawlinson stated that Lucid is still in discussions with other businesses, both inside and outside the automotive sector, about obtaining comparable supply and license arrangements for technologies. According to him, Lucid shows a keen interest in utilizing our technology for hybrid electric vehicles.

Moreover, Saudi Arabia has committed to buying up to 100,000 EVs from Lucid over the span of the next decades. Saudi Arabia owns the majority of Lucid Motors through its Public Investment Fund. Late last year, the company began exporting Air sedans to the Kingdom; however, according to Rawlinson, Lucid first encountered “different market dynamics and intricacies unique to that market,” which caused the rollout to be delayed. Lucid, however, “expect[s] good growth in the region this year,” he said.