Lucid increases production guidance for 2023

Luxury EV manufacturer Lucid Motors increased its production guidance for 2023 as manufacturing and deliveries ramped up in the fourth quarter of 2022 amid declining reservations. Newark, Calif.-based Lucid set its 2023 production guidance at a range of 10,000 to 14,000 units after the OEM met its revised 2022 guidance amid increased capacity, Sherry House, chief financial officer at Lucid Motors , said during the company’s Q4 earnings call Wednesday . Lucid halved its 2022 guidance in the Q2 last year to a range of 6,000 to 7,000 vehicles, due to supply chain constraints. “Given the uncertain macro environment, we think it’s prudent to provide a guidance range that ’ s larger than what we would provide under normal circumstances,” House said. The company expects production to be down “significantly” in Q1 2023 due to a seven-day production shut down in January for a year-end inventory count along with supply chain challenges in manufacturing Lucid Air’s “stealth look,” House said. Vehicle production increased 53.1% sequentially in Q4 2022 to 3,493 units, according to the company’s earnings presentation. “ We went from making 279 vehicles in 2021 to 7,180 in our first full year of production,” Chief Executive and Chief Technology Officer Peter Rawlinson said during the call, noting production is no longer a bottleneck for the OEM. “ We are not limited by production,” he said. “We could scale up, but we ’ re making a conscious decision to match production, whilst focusing upon cost-effective build quality. We are focused on building versions of Air to meet customer interest, converting reservations into orders, meeting and increasing customer demand and getting Lucid Air into the hands of more drivers.” Increasing deliveries Lucid’s deliveries totaled 1,931 units in Q4, up 38.2% sequentially, according to the presentation. The OEM began making deliveries of the Lucid Air to Europe and Saudi Arabia in Q4 2022, Rawlinson noted. “In Q2, we will ramp shipments to the Middle East and Europe, so we would expect total deliveries to increase,” House said. Vehicle reservations, meanwhile, decreased for the second consecutive quarter. Preorders totaled 28,000 vehicles as of Feb. 21, a decline of 17.7% from Nov. 7, accounting for $2.7 billion in potential sales, according to the presentation. “Heading into 2023, we recognize the difficult market environment and particularly the impact higher interest rates and market uncertainty has on consumers’ inclination to purchase,” House said. Total reservations exclude Lucid’s 10-year incremental agreement with the Saudi Arabia government to purchase up to 100,000 vehicles, which was announced in Q2 2022. Lucid expects to begin deliveries under this agreement sometime this year, Rawlinson said. Lucid’s cash and cash equivalents were up 38.1% sequentially, totaling $1.74 billion, which Lucid expects to be sufficient liquidity into the first quarter of 2024, according to the earnings presentation. Lucid also is looking to expand Lucid Financial Services , which was formed when the company inked a private-label deal with Bank of America in June 2022 Lucid Financial offers 24-, 36- and 48-month leases and loans. Bank of America services the loans and leases and offers a concierge service to assist consumers with credit applications. The OEM plans to hire for at least six positions in the U.S., Canada and Middle East to support Lucid Financial Services. Lucid also aims to build out its servicing website for consumers to make payments and track transactions. Shares of Lucid Group Inc. [ Nasdaq: LCID ] were trading up 1.85 % from market open at $8.79 as of market close today. Lucid has a market capitalization of $16.07 billion. Auto Finance Summit East, Auto Finance News’ new spring event, is set for May 10-12 at the JW Marriott Nashville featuring a fireside chat with Peter Muriungi, CEO of Chase Auto. Visit autofinance.live.

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