Lucid Motors says it expects to make fewer EVs in 2022 than it originally planned

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge

Luxury electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors is slashing its production forecast for 2022, citing supply chain constraints. The Newark, California-based company announced it was revising down its production expectations to 12,000 to 14,000 vehicles from the original prediction of 20,000 vehicles.

“This reflects the extraordinary supply chain and logistics challenges we’ve encountered and our unrelenting focus on delivering the highest-quality products,” Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson said in a statement. “We remain confident in our ability to capture the tremendous opportunities ahead given our technology leadership and strong demand for our cars.”

Shares of the company fell 14 percent in after-hours trading on the news. The company did not specify what supply issues were causing it problems. Lucid released its fourth quarter earnings Monday, reporting a $1 billion loss on revenue of $26.4 million. Overall, the company said it lost $4.8 billion in 2021. The company went public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, last summer.

Lucid also said the number of reservations for its luxury Lucid Air sedan now exceeded 25,000, reflecting $2.4 billion in potential sales. The company had previously said it had received 20,000 reservations.

Lucid said it has made 400 vehicles as of February 28th, of which 125 were delivered to customers before the end of 2021. The company says it has made over 300 deliveries to date, some of which have gone to executives and employees.

In an earnings call with investors, Rawlinson also said the company would be delaying the launch of its Gravity SUV until the first half of 2024 in order to ensure the best possible production process.

Lucid is entering what is arguably one of the most competitive segments of the EV market. The luxury EV segment is already crowded with the likes of the Audi E-Tron and E-Tron GT, Jaguar I-Pace, Polestar 2, Porsche Taycan, Mercedes-Benz EQS, Cadillac Lyriq, BMW i4, and Lexus LF-Z, as well as the Tesla Model S Plaid, which started rolling out to customers last year.