- Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson says that the cheap electric car market sucks.
- Instead of building a low-cost Lucid, he thinks other OEs should license its tech.
- Other brands might already be planning on a cheap EV with or without Lucid.
Tesla and Elon Musk have long promised a $25,000 electric vehicle, but that idea has now been largely abandoned, with the EV maker’s boss recently dismissing it as pointless. Now, Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson has (also) made it clear that his company isn’t interested in pursuing that price point either—though he still acknowledges there’s potential in the low-cost EV segment.
Speaking on a recent Wall Street Journal podcast, Rawlinson explained the challenges of budget EVs, stating, “That market is notorious because you get into mass manufacture—terrible, low margins… To install the manufacturing base for millions of these units makes little sense to me.”
Read: Lucid Air Sapphire Soundly Beats Porsche Taycan Turbo GT In Most Powerful U-Drag Race Yet
But Rawlinson does see the opportunity for other brands to build a $25,000 EV and even do so while still benefiting Lucid. “This is where our licensing opportunity comes to play. As a tech company licensing out tech so that other OEs can benefit from that and they could put such a vehicle in place. They have a more installed manufacturing base.”
No doubt, other OEMs have a larger production infrastructure when compared to Lucid. The fledgling EV company will sell fewer cars this year than supercar manufacturer Lamborghini, a far cry from the kind of figures it’ll need to do to be a long-term sustainable brand of its own merit. Offering its own tech through licensing deals could prove to be the solution for Lucid.
But here’s the rub: not every manufacturer is going to rush to license Lucid’s technology. Many already have their own strategies in motion, particularly in the lower-cost EV segment. Ford, for instance, is reportedly fielding a Skunkworks-style team dedicated to developing a $25,000 electric car.
Rivian, on the other hand, probably won’t be aiming that low in terms of cost but it appears poised to launch a $45,000-ish R2 platform and we still don’t know what kind of price the R3X will have. Either way, it appears that more affordable EVs are coming, we only have to wait and see if anyone will use Lucid tech to hit the market.
