Tesla’s rival Lucid Motors cut its 2022 production target in half on Wednesday, citing “extraordinary supply chain” challenges as it tries to ramp up production and meet “strong demand.”
The California-based group, backed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, said 2022 production is now estimated at between 6,000 and 7,000 vehicles, down from a previous forecast of 12,000 to 14,000, and down from the start of the year forecast of 20,000 vehicles. vehicles.
Shares of the electric car maker are already down 50 percent this year, reflecting the many challenges in ramping up production of the Lucid Air – a luxury electric car starting at $89,000 and named MotorTrend Car of the Year for 2022. Shares fell 12 Extra percent after business hours on Wednesdays.
“We have identified key bottlenecks and are taking appropriate measures, moving our logistics operations within the company, adding key employees to the executive team, and restructuring our logistics and manufacturing organization,” said CEO Peter Rawlinson.
“We continue to see strong demand for our vehicles, with over 37,000 customer reservations, and I am confident we will overcome these challenges in the near term.”
The company said a total of 37,000 reservations amounted to $3.5 billion in potential sales, but Lucid reported just $97.3 million in revenue in the June quarter, well below estimates of $147 million in which it delivered just 679 vehicles in the three-month period.
Lucid’s chief financial officer, Sherry House, said the company has $4.6 billion in cash, “which we believe is enough to fund the company well through 2023.”
Despite recent stock market woes, Lucid had a market valuation of $34 billion at the time of its earnings Tuesday, compared to $54 billion at General Motors and $60.4 billion at Ford, which companies routinely sell millions of cars annually.
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