Lucid Motors sets new delivery record as it seeks more EV buyers

Lucid Motors delivered more EVs in the first quarter of 2024 than in any other quarter, although it set a record by a very small margin.

The California-based electric car company backed by Saudi Arabia said Tuesday morning that it shipped 1,967 luxury sedans in the quarter. That’s fewer than were shipped in the fourth quarter of 2022, when it set its previous record of 1,932 shipments. The company said it built just 1,728 sedans in the first quarter, though, meaning it will need to ramp up production in future quarters if it intends to meet its usual guidance of 9,000 EVs this year.

Lucid’s new delivery record comes as the company struggles to meet steady demand for its affordable luxury sedan, the Air. The company is still months away from starting production on its upcoming Gravity SUV, so it’s banking on discounts, increased marketing efforts and a cheaper Air model to keep things going until it can ship the new model. Meanwhile, it recently returned to Saudi Arabia to raise $1 billion to finance what is still a money-losing business.

Lucid is not alone in his struggle. Rivian also started 2024 on a flat foot, building and shipping about the same number of cars in the first quarter as it did in the last semester of 2024. These companies are trying to establish themselves in a fast-changing market, where Tesla has been constantly changing. slashed prices and major automakers have scaled back their ambitious plans to release mass electric vehicles.

Although Lucid set a new high in the first quarter, it did not say how many of those shipments were of the cheaper version of the Air sedan, which began shipping late last year. The company also said last year that it began shipping the first cars to Saudi Arabia for the final assembly – the first step in a plan to sell as many as 100,000 cars to its majority owners. But it has not specified how many Air sedans have arrived in the Kingdom so far. The company will be able to assemble, even more, 5,000 vehicles in Saudi Arabia until the full production plant comes online in a few years.