This is Part Three of a write up covering Lucid Motors. Part One can be found here and Part Two here. Part Four will cover the company’s financials and offer a summary.
Customer Traction
Earlier in November, Lucid reported a total 17,000 reservations for the Lucid Air, representing nearly enough demand to cover its entire 20,000 vehicle production target for 2022. Its first-run Air Dream addition is fully booked.
Reservations for the upper trim cars require a financial commitment of $1,000. For the lowest trim Air Pure model, the reservation costs only $300. Whatever the price, the reservation is fully refundable.
While the reservation figures show considerable traction, it is worth mentioning that demand for new vehicles across the industry is up. Waits for customers who have ordered (that is, fully paid for) the new non-plaid Tesla Model S now stretch into 2023. Tesla currently delivers around 20,000 Model S units per year.
Additionally, Porsche has already sold 28,647 units of its Taycan so far as of Q3 2021. Though the Taycan and Model S are currently being delivered in cheaper versions than the Lucid Air Dream Edition, reservation figures for the Lucid Air also cover its cheaper versions as well.
Team
Despite being new on the EV scene, Lucid is led by a group of executives who boast deep industry knowledge and experience.
Lucid’s chief is Peter Rawlinson, who serves as as the company’s CEO and CTO. He joined the company in 2013. Rawlinson is a British automotive engineer whose claim to fame is having been the head engineer working on the Tesla Model S—Tesla’s first vehicle and the first mainstream electric car on the market.
Rawlinson is a long-time veteran of the automotive industry, having also worked at Lotus, where he was chief engineer, and Jaguar, where he was principal engineer. According to early reviews of the Lucid Air, the benefits of having an engineer lead the company are clear: details. Rawlinson’s attention to detail and deep well of industry knowledge working for some of the most well-regarded manufacturers of vehicles help him ensure a high level of fit and finish.
Rawlinson’s experience at Tesla, leading engineering while the company scaled up its manufacturing operations, is an invaluable asset for a new manufacturer of electric vehicles.
Rawlinson is joined by Derek Jenkins as Lucid’s Senior Vice President of Design and Brand. Like Rawlinson, Jenkins draws on a wealth of automotive experience, including most recently as the director of design at Mazda, where he led the design team to create what is considered by many observers to be the most compelling and attractive mass-market vehicle line up.
His Mazda designs even led some reviewers to compare the company’s cars to those of higher-end luxury manufacturers. Before Mazda, Jenkins worked at Volkswagen North America and prior to that Audi, where he was the brand’s lead exterior designer.
Other top executives at Lucid include Sherry House, who joins Lucid from Waymo, formerly Google’s self-driving unit, where she was the treasurer and head of investor relations. Eric Bach is Lucid’s SVP, product and chief engineer, who, like Rawlinson, joined Lucid by way of Tesla. Previous experience includes working for Volkswagen.
Michael Bell, Lucid’s SVP Digital, joins from Rivian and prior to that, Intel, and Apple.
This is a freeform daily newsletter about the transportation industry: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. I will take shallow dives into topics that I think are interesting—and that offer valuable lessons. These will include looks at startups in the space, historical explorations, market analyses, company and personal profiles, interviews with industry players, and occasional personal essays.
I’m starting with breakdowns of startups in the automotive space. Stay tuned for the next one! Please note: nothing published here is to be interpreted as investment advice. The author holds a long position in Lucid Group.
Thanks for reading—and please let me know if you have any feedback or if there is anything you would like to see me cover.
Drive well,
DS