Lucid Group Inc. assured investors it’s on track to its achieve full-year production target after the maker of luxury electric sedans posted worse-than-expected quarterly results.
(Bloomberg) — Lucid Group Inc. assured investors it’s on track to its achieve full-year production target after the maker of luxury electric sedans posted worse-than-expected quarterly results.
The company’s shares jumped as much as 7% in postmarket trading after Chief Executive Officer Peter Rawlinson said in a statement Monday that Lucid is on pace to manufacture more than 10,000 vehicles this year.
The second-quarter loss came to 40 cents a share, or 6 cents deeper than analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg,. Revenue of $150.9 million also fell short of expectations. Lucid announced in July that it delivered 1,404 vehicles during the period even as output amounted to 2,173.
Lucid is one of many upstart automakers trying to become a bona-fide Tesla Inc. competitor. But since commencing production in 2021, it’s struggled to find buyers for its Air sedans that start at around $87,000 and can easily top $100,000 depending on which features are selected.
What Bloomberg Intelligence Says
“Lucid, the nascent automaker focused on high-end electric sedans, may be fully capable of sticking to its 10,000-unit production goal in 2023, yet it faces a daunting task in finding enough customers. A battery-powered car, retailing for an average transaction price near $107,000, may not have a large enough target audience, compromising a much-needed ramp-up in production.”
— Kevin P Tynan and Andreas Krohn, BI analysts
Read the full report here.
The company has repeatedly revised its ambitions, most recently saying that it is only expecting to produce near the low-end of its 10,000 to 14,000 vehicle goal for this year. In March, Lucid announced plans to cut staffing by nearly 20%. Over the weekend, the company announced numerous price cuts to the different trims of its sedan.
“We’re on track toward achieving our 2023 production target of more than 10,000 vehicles, but we recognize we still have work to do to grow our customer base,” Rawlinson said in a statement Monday,.
In June, the company announced a deal to provide electric powertrain technology to Aston Martin Lagonda Holdings Plc, which is partially-owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. The fund also owns about 60% of Lucid.
(Updates with extent of earnings miss in third paragraph.)
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