PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Lucid Motors (LCID) has lots using on its subsequent EV, the Gravity SUV, when it comes out later this 12 months.
Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson spoke to Yahoo Finance from the Pebble Seaside Idea garden, the place choose automakers exhibit new automobiles of word throughout Monterey Auto Week.
Rawlinson is bullish on the Gravity and believes it will probably greater than double the corporate’s gross sales, which hit 2,394 deliveries of its dear Air sedan within the second quarter.
“We consider that the full addressable marketplace for Gravity is six instances that of Lucid Air,” Rawlinson mentioned in an interview (which passed off within the Gravity’s sizeable frunk).
“We’re simply in within the technique of finishing the build-out of our [plant] in Arizona to a capability of 90,000 items every year. We’re on monitor for manufacturing round 9,000 Lucid Airs this 12 months, Gravity goes to return in, and our funds are dominated by scale. It is all scale, scale, scale. And it is a huge step in that scale,” Rawlinson added.
Whereas monetary flexibility — and the backing of Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund — will give Lucid the runway it wants, Rawlinson believes Lucid’s expertise will push it excessive to trump Tesla’s.
“We’re significantly forward of the place Tesla is. We have taken that mantle. After I was at Tesla, Tesla was the tech chief. They’ve develop into distracted, and now we have taken that place,” he mentioned, referring to what he believes is Lucid’s tech benefit in batteries, software program, and powertrain.
Rawlinson posted information on LinkedIn displaying how far forward of Tesla Lucid’s tech is, by way of effectivity. Rawlinson talked about Lucid automobiles have the aptitude to eke out 5 miles of distance in a single kWh, which is exceptional when the trade common is round 3 to 4 miles, which is the place Tesla stands.
Different producers, like Aston Martin, for instance, have inked expertise licensing offers for Lucid tech, believing it to be greatest in school.
Rawlinson’s dig at a “distracted” Tesla could have extra to do with Elon Musk than the corporate itself. Musk’s numerous facet initiatives, his posting of inflammatory materials on X, making strikes like shedding Tesla’s Supercharger crew, and focusing his crew’s efforts on robotaxis have been questioned by critics and Wall Road analysts alike.
Nonetheless, whereas Rawlinson touts Lucid’s tech, his firm is nowhere close to worthwhile, and that’s one space Musk and Tesla can dangle their hat on.
Buyers might be keenly watching whether or not Lucid and its CEO can flip their perceived tech benefit into constructive money move when the Gravity comes out later this 12 months.
Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You possibly can observe him on Twitter and on Instagram.
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