As of Monday’s close, the company has a market capitalization of about $73 billion, despite generating only meager revenue. In 2018, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund put more than $1 billion into the startup, breathing new life into a company that had struggled to make progress to that point.
Lucid is seen as a potential competitor to Tesla Inc. after demonstrating battery technology that can rival the performance of the market incumbent’s vehicles. Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson was formerly chief engineer on Tesla’s Model S sedan.
The startup’s first quarterly earnings report comes less than a week after a splashy initial public offering by another EV newcomer, Rivian Automotive Inc. That listing was the sixth-largest in U.S. history even though the company has made only a handful of vehicles so far, with deliveries largely going to employees.
Like Rivian, Lucid only started production in September and began limited customer deliveries of its first EV on Oct. 31. The company’s short-term focus is to deliver fewer than 600 units of a limited-release Dream Edition Air that is priced at $169,000 and is capable of traveling 520 miles on a single charge. The company is also starting deliveries of a lower-spec version of its Air vehicle that costs $139,000.
Lucid manufactures its cars at a facility in Casa Grande, Ariz., that it built in less than year and began operating in 2020.
