Lucid reports twice as many orders as production capacity, puts prices up

Lucid Motors will be very busy for at least the next two years, it would seem. At its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, it said that it already has 30,000 orders on the books.

This equates to a potential $US2.9 billion ($A4 billion) in revenue potential. But, the company’s current production capacity of 12,000-14,000 vehicles a year means some customers could be waiting almost two years to receive a new vehicle.

Peter Rawlinson, Lucid’s CEO and CTO, said, “We continued to make progress in the first quarter of 2022 despite on-going global supply chain challenges.

“We are nearing completion of deliveries of Lucid Air Dream Edition, and we began deliveries of Lucid Air Grand Touring, with an EPA-estimated range of up to 516 miles and an unprecedented efficiency of 4.6 miles per kilowatt-hour.”

The Lucid Air has been pegged as a serious competitor to the Tesla Model S. With range-topping specs that include 900-volt architecture that can recharge more than 480km range in 20 minutes and accceleration from 0-60mph (0-96.5km/hr) in 2.6 seconds, it delivers up to 830km driving range and 782kW power.

The company delivered 360 vehicles so far in 2022 bringing in $US57.7 million ($A81 million) and closed the quarter with $US5.4 billion ($A7.6 million) cash on hand.

Lucid chief financial officer Sherry House said this is sufficient to fund the company into 2023. He underlined the company’s recent deal to sell the Saudi Arabian government 100,000 cars over the next 10 years. Lucid Motors is backed by the Saudi sovereign fund.

The news was not taken well by investors, however as global headwinds put pressure on auto start-ups in ramp-up phase. Share prices for Lucid Motors dropped 7% following the earnings report.

The company currently sells one model, the Lucid Air. It is now available in four variants after the company commenced deliveries of the introductory “Dream Edition” in late 2021.

In line with global automotive price increases, Lucid added that it is putting prices up across the range from June 1, 2022.

“Similar to many companies in our industry, we continue to face global supply chain and logistics challenges, including Covid-related factory shutdowns in China. We are working closely with our suppliers to mitigate the impact of disruptions,” House added.

The Air Pure will now cost $US87,400 for the base-level Air Pure, up $US10,000.

The mid-range Air Touring will cost $US107,400 up from $US95,000 and the Air Grand Touring edition will be priced from $US154,000 up from $US139,000.

Its top-of-the-line variant announced two weeks ago, the Grand Touring Performance, will remain at the same price of $US179,000.