Manufacturing EV maker Lucid’s CEO quits as total losses hit $13bn By Matt Smith, Gavin Gibbon February 26, 2025, 4:23 PM Reuters/David Swanson Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson at the Los Angeles Auto Show in 2023. Lucid has been majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s PIF since April 2019 Losses in 2024 up 11% to $3bn Shares down 95% since 2021 Lucid expects losses to continue Peter Rawlinson, the CEO of the Saudi Arabia-backed electric car maker Lucid Motors, has resigned after the Californian company’s total accumulated losses rose to almost $13 billion. Earlier this week, Lucid announced that its losses in 2024 were up almost 11 percent to $3.1 billion, from $2.8 billion the year before. Shares in Lucid, which began as a specialist battery maker in 2007, have lost more than 95 percent of their value since their November 2021 peak of nearly $58. They closed at $2.61 on Tuesday. Lucid has been majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund since April 2019. PIF invested an additional $1 billion in the company in March last year and a further $1.5 billion in August, bringing its total investment to $8 billion for a 58 percent stake . At Tuesday’s share price close, the whole company is worth less than the total amount PIF has invested in it, with Lucid admitting the outlook is not bright. “We expect to continue to incur substantial losses and increasing expenses in the foreseeable future,” Lucid said in a financial statement. “We and our subsidiaries have incurred and may need to incur substantial additional debt.” Marc Winterhoff, Lucid’s chief operating officer, has been named interim CEO, replacing Rawlinson, who stays on as “strategic technical adviser” on a monthly salary of $120,000 until February 2027, Lucid said in a statement. Lucid has struggled to meet production targets for its lead vehicle, Lucid Air, which it hopes can rival Tesla in the lucrative electric car sector. With a factory in Arizona and another opened in Jeddah in 2023, Lucid aims to increase production to 20,000 vehicles this year. Last year, it produced about 9,000 vehicles. The Saudi government has pledged to buy up to 50,000 vehicles from Lucid, with an option for a further 50,000. PIF-backed EV maker Lucid beats 2024 delivery estimates Lucid’s Jeddah factory targets new Middle East territories PIF-backed Lucid shares tumble on anticipated Q3 losses Taoufiq Boussaid, Lucid’s new chief financial officer, who joined the company last month, said during an earnings call on Tuesday: “As we move into the next phase, scaling production, optimising operations and accelerating growth, bringing financial discipline will be more critical than ever.” PIF owns shares in 62 US listed companies, according to its latest regulatory filing. These include a $4.4 billion stake in the ride-hailing company Uber and a $3.6 billion holding in the video games maker Electronic Arts, plus shareholdings in Amazon, PayPal, Microsoft and the semiconductor specialist Arm. The fund was a founding investor in the Japanese investment holding company SoftBank Group’s Vision Funds, pledging $45 billion. This week, SoftBank’s CEO, Masayoshi Son, admitted he had not “fully delivered” the expected returns to the PIF.
