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Lucid CEO admits to ‘hiccups’ in SUV rollout

By Chris Hamill-Stewart
Lucid's Gravity, the electric vehicle maker's SUV Lucid Media Gallery
Lucid's Gravity, the electric vehicle maker's SUV
  • Software issues mar Gravity launch
  • Shares trading at $2.25
  • Lost $3.1bn in 2024

Lucid Motors, the Saudi-controlled US electric vehicle maker, has admitted to “hiccups” in the rollout of its sports utility vehicle, Gravity.

“It is true that we had some technical issues that we had to overcome around software,” interim CEO Marc Winterhoff said on an earnings call this week.

“There have been some hiccups, to be quite frank,” said Winterhoff. “This is absolutely normal in the beginning of launching a vehicle.” 

Winterhoff took over in February as interim CEO of Lucid, which is backed by Saudi Arabia’s $940 billion Public Investment Fund.

That same month, Lucid announced an 11 percent increase in annual losses to $3.1 billion in 2024 from $2.8 billion the year before.

SUVs accounted for almost half of total global car sales in 2023, according to the International Energy Agency. 

Lucid shares are trading at $2.25 each, having lost over 95 percent of their value from a peak of nearly $58 in November 2021.

Lucid delivered 3,109 vehicles in the first quarter of this year, a quarterly record for the company. It sold 10,200 vehicles last year.

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