- Lucid Group is cutting its car production forecast for this year by as much as 40%, sending shares of the electric vehicle start-up tumbling 14% during after hours trading.
- The company cited supply chain constraints for slashing production expectations to between 12,000 and 14,000 vehicles, down from 20,000 units.
- Lucid’s CEO said the problems are more to do with commodity parts such as glass and carpet rather than an ongoing global shortage of semiconductor chips.
Lucid Group is cutting its car production forecast for this year by as much as 40%, sending shares of the electric vehicle start-up tumbling 14% during after hours trading.
The company on Monday cited supply chain constraints and parts quality issues for slashing production to between 12,000 and 14,000 vehicles, down from initial expectations of 20,000.
“This reflects the extraordinary supply chain and logistics challenges we’ve encountered and our unrelenting focus on delivering the highest-quality products,” Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson said in a statement. “We remain confident in our ability to capture the tremendous opportunities ahead given our technology leadership and strong demand for our cars.”
Rawlinson, on a call with investors Monday, said the problems are more to do with commodity parts such as glass and carpet rather than an ongoing global shortage of semiconductor chips. He said the problems are with a handful of its roughly 250 suppliers.
The company’s first electric vehicle is a $169,000 sedan called the Lucid Air Dream Edition. Since beginning retail production in the fall, the company has produced more than 400 of the vehicles at a new factory in Arizona. It has delivered more than 300 of those units to customers, including 125 units during the fourth quarter, the company said Monday.
Rawlinson said Lucid also will delay its second vehicle, an electric SUV called Gravity, to the first half of 2024. It was initially expected in 2023. He said the delay is to refine the product and give more time to impose best practices from launching the Air.
Lucid announced the production forecast and sales as part of reporting its fourth-quarter results. The automaker reported a loss of $1 billion during the fourth quarter on revenue of $26.4 million. It lost $4.8 billion in 2021, the company reported.
Shares of Lucid, which went public in July through a SPAC deal, closed Monday at $28.98 a share, up by 10%. The company’s market cap is $47.7 billion.
Lucid said customer reservations now exceed 25,000 units, reflecting potential sales of more than $2.4 billion. That’s up from 17,000 units in November.
Lucid also confirmed plans to build its first international assembly plant in Saudi Arabia. Rawlinson said the plant is expected to begin production in 2025. Maximum capacity is slated to be 150,000 units, he said.
Source: Business - cnbc.com
