Lucid has produced a very compelling electric vehicle with the Air but is quickly learning that making money as a car manufacturer isn’t easy.
The electric car manufacturer has reported a third-quarter net loss of some $670 million, prompting a 13 percent drop in the company’s stock price to $11.79 in after-market trading. In more positive news, the company did report revenue of $196 million in the quarter, significantly higher than the $232,000 that it reported in Q3 2021.
Read: Entry-Level Lucid Air Pure Starts At $89,050, A Whole Lot More Than The $69,900 Promised In 2020
While it’s not close to turning a profit, Lucid said that it remains on track to hit its target of producing between 6,000 and 7,000 vehicles this year. It also revealed that it has more than 34,000 reservations for the Air, representing potential sales of over $3.2 billion. This figure does not include the up to 100,000 vehicles that will be purchased by the government of Saudi Arabia.
“I’m delighted to say that we’ve made significant progress toward achieving our 2022 production target of 6,000-7,000 vehicles,” Lucid chief executive and chief technology officer Peter Rawlinson said. “We had record quarterly production of 2,282 vehicles, more than triple Q2, and deliveries of 1,398, which was more than double Q2. I’m also pleased to announce that we’ve now proven our ability to produce 300 cars a week, with a visible pathway to our next incremental ramp up.”
The focus on the ramp up in production and deliveries of the Air hasn’t distracted Lucid from its planned second model. Chief financial officer Sherry House revealed that Lucid plans to open reservations for the all-electric Project Gravity SUV in early 2023 and believes it “will unlock a very large and incremental addressable market.”
Lucid expects to commence deliveries of the SUV in 2024. Before that, it will officially launch the Air Pure and Air Touring on November 15, starting at $89,050 and $109,050 respectively.
