Lucid Motors had an impressive first quarter in 2024, surpassing their previous delivery record by a narrow margin. The Saudi-backed luxury electric vehicle company disclosed on Tuesday morning that they shipped 1,967 EVs in the first quarter, a mere 35 more than their previous record of 1,932 in the fourth quarter of 2022. However, they were only able to build 1,728 sedans during this time, indicating a need to increase production in order to reach their goal of 9,000 vehicles for the year.
Despite their new delivery record, Lucid is facing challenges in maintaining consistent demand for their costly Air sedan. With the production of their upcoming Gravity SUV still months away, the company relies on discounts, increased marketing efforts, and a more affordable trim of the Air to keep them afloat until the new model is ready to ship. Additionally, they recently secured another $1 billion in funding from Saudi Arabia to support their ongoing financial losses.
Lucid is not the only company facing difficulties in the rapidly changing market. Rivian, another electric vehicle manufacturer, also had a slow start to 2024, building and shipping a similar number of vehicles as the previous quarter. These companies are competing in a market where Tesla consistently lowers prices and traditional automakers have scaled back their efforts to introduce all-electric vehicles in large quantities.
While Lucid did break their own delivery record in the first quarter, they did not specify how many of the 1,967 deliveries were of the more affordable version of the Air sedan that was introduced late last year. They have also reported sending the first vehicles to Saudi Arabia for final assembly, as part of a plan to sell up to 100,000 vehicles to their majority owner. However, it is unknown how many Air sedans have actually been shipped to the Kingdom at this time. It is worth noting that Lucid’s assembly capacity in Saudi Arabia is currently limited to a maximum of 5,000 vehicles until a full production plant is established in a few years.
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