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Lucid Motors chief executive Peter Rawlinson has stepped down from the Saudi-backed electric-vehicle maker as it prepares to double production and introduce an SUV model in an effort to reverse a steep decline in its share price.
Rawlinson, the former chief vehicle engineer at Tesla who joined rival Lucid in 2013, will take an advisory role on the board and be replaced on an interim basis by chief operating officer Marc Winterhoff.
His departure was unexpected, with Rawlinson pledging as recently as November “to continue tirelessly day and night to drive long-term shareholder value”. He resigned on Friday but remains among the biggest 15 shareholders in the company.
The executive changes came alongside Lucid’s fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday when it posted revenue of $235mn, beating analysts’ expectations for $212mn.
On a full-year basis, the California-based EV maker’s net loss widened to $3.1bn in 2024 from $2.8bn a year earlier. Revenue rose 36 per cent to $807mn as it produced 9,029 vehicles — all versions of its Air sedan range — while research and development costs pushed expenses 3.6 per cent higher to $3.8bn.
Lucid forecast it would double production to about 20,000 vehicles this year as it starts selling the Gravity sport utility vehicle, broadening its potential pool of customers. While Gravity boasts the best range of any comparable model at 450 miles, it is aimed at the top end of the market, costing $94,900 before any options are added.
The company’s shares jumped 10 per cent in after-hours trading, paring its 14 per cent decline this year. However, the stock price has plunged 95 per cent from a peak in November 2021, resulting in a bailout from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. PIF-linked funds now own 58 per cent of the company after injecting a further $1.5bn in August, taking its total investment to about $8bn.
Lucid is one of a small group of pure-EV start-ups, such as truckmaker Rivian, trying to compete with traditional automakers pivoting to electric. These include Ford, Volkswagen, Kia Hyundai and General Motors, as well as market leader Tesla, which produced 1.77mn EVs in 2024.
Lucid is also designing a smaller, more affordable mass-market vehicle that will be produced as soon as 2026 in Arizona and at a factory under construction in Saudi Arabia.
Winterhoff cautioned that the industry faced much uncertainty this year, with Donald Trump’s administration pledging to remove many federal incentives to buy EVs and imposing tariffs that could force US carmakers to make changes to their global supply chains.
